


The TARDIS Nebula

by Wintermoth



Series: Starlight [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Children, F/M, Family, Fluff, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-16
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-02-25 13:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2623400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wintermoth/pseuds/Wintermoth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rule Number 6: Children are not allowed to travel on the TARDIS. At all. Ever. ...Ok maybe just this once.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Orphan Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This story idea has been brewing for over a year now. This will contain two separate arcs, the first with Amelia, the second with someone else. Though you probably can guess who. For the record: these occur within the few years between s3 and s4 If you want an exact year-context clues, yo.) Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of it's characters.

  
When Amelia Pond was six years old, she lived in Nairn, Scotland. The farthest south she’d ever been was Glasgow. The hottest day she’d ever felt was 23 degrees. She’d thought it was strange and decided things were never supposed to be that warm.  
  
When Amelia Pond was six years old, she had two parents. Tabetha and Augustus. She thought they were the best parents in the world, even though they made her eat fruits and vegetables. At least her Mum put smiley faces in them. That made them better. It just did.  
  
When Amelia Pond was six years old, her best friend was named Katie. Amy had hair like fire; Katie had hair like smoke. Amy blazed ahead and Katie was always following right in her wake. They played together, got into trouble together, did homework together, and they slept over at each other’s houses. They talked about starting Primary Two together and maybe being in the same class this time! They talked about getting married on the same day–or even maybe married to each other! (Katie’s mum did not like that.) They were completely and utterly inseparable.  
  
When Amelia Pond was six years old, she could not imagine any other life.  
  
When Amelia Pond was seven years old, she lost her parents.  
  
1995, November the 7th. The day the rain was coming down so thick that her father didn’t see the car in the other lane until it was too late.  
  
 _“They went quickly,”_ the police, social workers, doctors, and everyone else who bothered told her. _“They didn’t suffer.”_ As if it were supposed to make things better somehow. They were dead and they hadn’t got to hear her say she loved them that day.  
  
She wanted to tell them. She was going to tell them. The funeral was closed-casket and it didn’t seem right saying the words to wooden lids so she kept them to herself.  
  
She asked the social worker if she could live with Katie and gave her phone number and address. But, no. She had to live with her Aunt Sharon.  
  
She hadn’t spent too much time with Aunt Sharon before. Her house wasn’t that fun since she didn’t have any kids of her own. Amelia never had really enjoyed going over there. Sharon thought Amelia was altogether too flighty, stubborn, and mouthy. And she didn’t put smiley faces in her fruits and vegetables.  
  
When Amelia Pond was seven years old, she threw the absolute biggest tantrum of her life when Sharon told her they were moving to England. Sharon’s company had agreed to give her the raise she’d need to support Amelia if she transferred to England and she thought a change would be good. Nairn was full of memories that maybe Amelia would be better off without.  
  
Amelia kicked and screamed and howled and bit. She ran away to Katie’s. When her aunt called Katie’s mum to check if she was there, Amelia and Katie ran off together. They were found in the park three hours later by the police and were carried home, hollering and protesting loud enough to draw the attention of everyone around.  
  
When Amelia Pond was seven years old, she lived in England. Leadworth, to be precise. It was about as boring and English as it got. She hated it. In July, it was twenty-five degrees some days and she nearly broiled. Everybody spoke weird and had the nerve to tell her she was the one who sounded weird. The lady at playgroup told her not to worry. She was young enough that she’d sound English soon enouh. Amelia vowed, right then and there, that she would never, _ever_ lose her accent.  
  
She started a new school and a new grade on her own. She’d always had Katie with her before but she was 500 miles north where things were as they should be. On the first day she met (actually she kind of collided with) a skinny little brown-haired geek who nearly knocked her over and made her drop her lunch box. He took her verbal abuse with hunched shoulders and a quivering lip and Amelia felt bad almost as soon as she was done.  
  
“You’re mean,” he told her and, to his credit, he didn’t sound like he was about to cry.  
  
“No,” she corrected. “I’m angry.”  
  
“Then you’re mean when you’re angry.”  
  
She opened her mouth to say something biting but then stopped. Really, it had been an accident…and she didn’t want everyone at the school to think of her as ‘that mean Scottish girl.’ “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, ducking her head.  
  
The boy considered her for a moment then bent down to pick up the lunch box she’d dropped and held it out to her. “’M Rory.”  
  
“Amelia,” she replied as she accepted it from him.  
  
He wasn’t ever going to replace Katie. But he was better than nothing. He was fun sometimes. He liked her drawings and he was a grade ahead of her so he could always help with her homework if she asked. He was a bit of a nerd…but Amelia quickly decided that he was her nerd. Some of the other kids called him “freak” and “geek” and whenever these names were jeered in her presence, the abusers suddenly found themselves faced with 72 pounds of Scottish ginger wrath.  
  
When Amelia Pond was seven, she started noticing a woman watching her. She wasn’t always there but sometimes she’d see her out of the corner of her eye or across a crowded area, standing alone, watching her. She had dark hair, sharp features, a weird thing covering one of her eyes, and she looked at Amelia as if she were a prized pie at Leadworth’s semi-annual pie fest. At first it didn’t bother her too much. Leadworth was a small place. She saw the same faces all the time. Logically, the woman might not even be looking at Amelia at all.  
  
Then one night Amelia had looked out her window and saw the woman in her garden staring up at her window. When her aunt Sharon had gone to investigate the woman had vanished without a trace. Sharon didn’t believe her when she said she’d been seeing the woman all over the place. Amelia tried to draw the woman but unless Mrs. Manny was suddenly thirty years younger, there was no one like that in town, now stop it, Amelia.  
  
There was only one thing for it. She’d have to get help from someone important. Someone who could see anyone, anywhere, day or night. The big man himself.  
  
According to her Mum and Dad, the proper way to contact him throughout the year was by letters but desperate times called for desperate measures.  
  
“Dear Santa,” Amelia prayed, kneeling beside her bed, with her hands folded in front of her. “Thank you for the dolls and the pencils and the fish. It’s January now, so I hope I didn’t wake you, but honest, it’s an emergency. There’s a scary woman who keeps following me, watching me. My aunt doesn’t believe me. So if you could send someone, anyone, maybe a policeman, I’d really be grateful. Also, no disrespect, sir, but I really don’t think Bella Kingston deserves that bike you brought her.”  
  
Satisfied, Amelia lowered her hands and climbed into bed.  
  
She waited patiently for several weeks. She knew Santa couldn’t be rushed. It was his post-Christmas holiday, after all, but she was still scared. The woman was still following her and every time she tried to tell a grownup they wouldn’t believe her.  
  
She was playing on the swings at the park one sunny Saturday afternoon by herself. Aunt Sharon didn’t like when she went very high on the swings but Aunt Sharon wasn’t there. Rory was around somewhere, he didn’t like the swings much on account of him getting kicked in the stomach every time he walked in front of them. Amelia was working on getting as high as possible, arms pulling and legs pumping in tandem, when she noticed a dark figure in the corner of her eye on the way down.  
  
The woman was at the edge of the playground.  
  
Amelia slammed her feet on the ground at her next pass and they dragged along with a harsh scraping sound. She flung herself off the swings before she’d even come to a complete stop and jumped to her feet. The woman was staring straight at her with a vile smile on her face. Amelia backed away a few paces then turned and bolted for the play equipment. She ducked underneath the platform and wove through the supports to the dark patch beneath the slides.  
  
She took a few deep breaths then looked out through the space between the slides. The woman was gone. Just as she realized this she heard soft footsteps in the mulch behind her. Amelia whipped around, ready to scream and shout and bite.  
  
It was a woman…but not the woman. This one was soft and young, just a bit older than a teenager but not really a grownup yet. She had a round face, pretty green eyes, and blonde hair tied into two pigtails behind her shoulders. She wasn’t wearing any sort of clothes Amelia had ever seen before and definitely weren’t appropriate for February. She must’ve been freezing with most of her arms showing but she didn’t seem to care at all.  
  
She knelt in front of Amelia and cocked her head to the side. “Why are you hiding?” she asked.  
  
Amelia gulped and glanced over her shoulder. “There’s this woman, I’ve been seein’ her everywhere. She was outside my house the other night.”  
  
“Did you tell your aunt?”  
  
She sighed irritably. “Yes…but she wouldn’t believe me.”  
  
“Well, I believe you.”  
  
Amelia narrowed her eyes. “Who are you?”  
  
“Jenny.” The woman smiled at her, warm and reassuring and Amelia suddenly missed her mother very much. “And I’m here to let you know that you have absolutely no reason to be afraid.”  
  
“Did Santa send you?” Amelia asked.  
  
Jenny blinked in surprise. “How’d you guess?”  
  
“I asked him. And you’re the first person to believe me.”  
  
“You’re right,” she agreed. “Santa sent me. Would you like to see why?”  
  
Amelia nodded. Jenny held out her hand and Amelia placed her own in it nervously. Surprisingly cool, firm, but still gentle fingers curled around her hand and Jenny straightened as much as she could in the cramped space. She led Amelia out from under the play equipment and into the rare February sun. Amelia looked around for the woman then up at Jenny and noticed she was staring straight ahead. She followed her gaze…  
  
The woman was standing just beside a bench with an elderly couple sitting on it. They didn’t seem to be aware of the Disney villain standing next to them. Amelia glanced around and realized that, apart from herself and Jenny, no one else was looking at the woman. It was as if she wasn’t there.  
  
She tugged on Jenny’s hand. “Why can’t anyone else see her?”  
  
“Noticed that, did you?” Jenny muttered. “She’s got a perception filter–it’s an object that makes the wearer hard to notice. I can see her because I know she’s there…but you didn’t even know she was there but you saw her anyway.”  
  
“What does that mean?”  
  
“That means–” Jenny looked down at her and smiled “–that you’re a remarkable little girl.”  
  
Then Jenny returned her gaze the woman and her expression hardened into something that was a bit frightening. But Santa had sent her for a reason and he knew best. Amelia swallowed nervously and glanced at the woman.  
  
“Is that why she’s following me?” Amelia whispered.  
  
“Yes. But,” Jenny raised her voice, “she’s not ever going to get near you. She’s going to leave this place, she’s going to stop trying to interfere with your childhood, and she’s never going to come back or I will make sure she never leaves.”  
  
Before Amelia’s eyes, the woman’s expression changed from smug to nervous. Unsure. Amelia wondered exactly whose hand she was holding. But then the woman’s expression became defiant, her eyes narrowed, and she stayed resolutely where she was. She smirked and folded her arms, daring Jenny to do something.  
  
Amelia glanced up at Jenny. Without breaking eye contact, Jenny pulled a slim silver tube from her pocket and pressed a button on the side. A purple light flickered on at the tip of the tube and it emitted a peculiar whirring sound. Sparks flashed around the woman’s head and she jumped, reaching for her ear.  
  
The couple on the bench looked right at her.  
  
It was Jenny’s turn to smirk now. She released the button on her tube thing and lowered it to her side. The woman pursed her lips angrily and gave Jenny and Amelia a nasty look.  
  
“Kovarian,” Jenny warned, her voice dangerously low and her skin seemed to buzz beneath Amelia’s palm. “Leave while you still can.”  
  
Somehow, the woman seemed to hear her, and this time she took the threat seriously. She squared her shoulders then turned and walked away. Amelia watched her disappear behind a large lorry and waited for her to emerge on the other side but she never did. Ten seconds after the woman disappeared Jenny finally relaxed.  
  
“She’s gone,” Jenny announced.  
  
“Gone where?” Amelia asked.  
  
“Back to where she belongs.” She tucked the tube into her pocket before Amelia could get a closer look at it. “Unfortunately, I can’t promise you’ll never see her again, but, hopefully, it will be a long time from now.”  
  
“Amelia!”  
  
Amelia twisted around, not letting go of Jenny’s hand, and scanned the playground for Rory. He was standing at the top of the tallest slide, looking around below for her. He didn’t even pause as his gaze swept over her. Amelia rolled her eyes in irritation. The little dork obviously needed glasses.  
  
“I fink she lef,” a little girl with black braids called up from the merry go round.  
  
Amelia’s mouth fell open. Were they blind? She was standing right out in the open! Jenny squeezed her hand. “Can they see me?”  
  
“Nope,” Jenny replied, popping the ‘p’. “Not as long as you’re holding my hand.”  
  
Amelia frowned up at her. “Have you got a perrycepshun filler, too?”  
  
“Perception filter,” she corrected, “and yes, I do.”  
  
“Can I have one?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Please? Could do to skip school.”  
  
“And that’s exactly why you can’t have one.” Jenny said.  
  
“But it’s _boring_ ,” she complained.  
  
“I know,” she sighed and knelt down in front of her. “Wait until your older, though, and you get to study more interesting things. Might not seem so bad then. Homework though…” she made a face. Amelia giggled.  
  
“Do you go to school?”  
  
Jenny shook her head. “Nope. Not anymore. But, between you and me, that doesn’t mean I ever stop learning. School may be rubbish but learning never is. Always be curious.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
She smiled and patted Amelia’s hand. “Good. Time for me to go now.”  
  
“B-but are you sure she won’t come back?” Amelia glanced fearfully at the truck as Jenny stood up.  
  
“Pretty sure. She knows I’m serious.”  
  
“But what if she does?”  
  
“Then I’ll stop her.” Jenny said simply. Then something occurred to her. “By the way, don’t tell anyone about me. I was never here, alright?”  
  
“Why?”  
  
Jenny sighed and kneeled back down so she was at Amelia’s level. “See, Santa doesn’t usually handle things like this. He’s just Christmas, just like the Easter Bunny is only Easter. But he knew you were scared so he passed the word along. People like me, we’re big secret and it really needs to stay that way, because if people found out about us, they might try to use us for bad things because we’re special. Can I trust you to keep my secret?”  
  
“Yes,” Amelia replied without hesitation.  
  
“That means no telling your aunt, your friends, classmates, teachers, neighbors–not anybody. Not ever. Do you promise?”  
  
“I promise.”  
  
Jenny beamed at her and Amelia felt warm inside. “Thank you. Now, I think your friend Rory is getting worried. Time to let go of my hand.”  
  
Amelia looked down at their linked hands and sighed, letting go, and dropped her hand to her side.  
  
“I’ll see you around, Amy.” Jenny told her as she turned to leave.  
  
“My name’s not Amy.”  
  
Jenny glanced back and smiled. “Would be a great nickname, though, don’t you think?”  
  
“I like my name.”  
  
“Amelia’s the name of a princess. Amy’s the name of a princess with attitude.”  
  
Amelia grinned. She quite liked that idea. Jenny winked then jogged away. Amelia watched her go, ignoring Rory’s relieved cries of her name, and didn’t look away from Jenny even as he tugged on her arm.  
  
“Amelia, where’ve you been?” Rory fussed.  
  
“Right here, stupid,” she answered.  
  
“Who were you talking–what are you lookin’ at?!”  
  
The blonde woman didn’t look back once as she ran. And then before Amelia’s eyes, she vanished in a tiny flash of light.  
  
Amelia gawked at the empty space where she’d just been. “Nothin,” she whispered after a moment. She didn’t see Rory frown suspiciously at her.  
  
Jenny had promised Kovarian wouldn’t come back, but Amelia didn’t stop looking for her everywhere. Her aunt noticed her paranoia and insisted she stop it. There was no one following her. Amelia just wished she could be as sure as her aunt. Eventually she stopped looking over her shoulder, stopped scanning crowded places for the sharp-featured woman with the wicked smile, and allowed herself to forget about her. She focused on school, thinking of the promise Jenny made about how it would get better as time went on.  
  
She finished Year 2 with good marks and Rory’s marks were better. He was way smarter than he looked but unlike some of the other children, he didn’t boast and wave the sheet of paper around for all to see. Amelia had to approach him directly before he hesitantly unfolded the paper and let her look.  
  
When Amelia Pond was eight years old, she celebrated her first birthday without her parents. Her mother and father would always make sure they had the day off. They’d wake her up with a plate of hotcakes with smiley faces made of whipped cream and chocolate chips. The house was always decorated with balloons. They’d spend the day doing fun things, they’d have a party in the afternoon with her friends and family. Her Dad always made her favorite dinner, they watched a movie, they’d let her stay up an hour past her bedtime.  
  
Aunt Sharon had to go to work. Amelia woke up alone with the sense that this day was going to be no more special than the one before. There were no balloons except for a single green one taped to the back of her chair in the kitchen. There was a note on the table telling her there was a plate of hotcakes in the fridge for her to heat up. She looked around for whipped cream or chocolate chips and found neither. She called Katie to ask if she was coming down but she wasn’t. Too much gas and they wouldn’t be able to get there in time.  
  
They had a small party in the park after Aunt Sharon got off work with some of Sharon’s friends and Amelia’s classmates. Rory and his dad, Brian, came. Brian presented her with a book of fairytales and Rory gave her a bag of sour sweets she knew she loved. Amelia couldn’t help but look around the entire time for her parents or Katie and tried to not to be disappointed when she found neither. Part of her hoped Jenny might come but no such luck.  
  
Aunt Sharon asked what she wanted for dinner and Amelia told her what her Dad had always made. She nearly cried when she took a bite and it didn’t taste the same. It wasn’t bad…just different. After dinner, Sharon sat down to watch her evening shows and Amelia retreated to her room. Sitting on her bed, she looked at the few presents she’d been given and sighed. Then she looked at the picture on her nightstand of her and her parents taken not long before…well, before.  
  
The sight of them all happy and smiling was enough to undo her. All the frustration and grief from the First Birthday Without Mum and Dad came rushing to the surface and refused to be contained. Pressing her face into her pillow, she cried her little heart out. She beat her fists on the mattress and screamed her anger at the world into the squishy cotton. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair, it just wasn’t fair! She wanted her parents, wanted them so badly that it made her heart ache like it hadn’t since Christmas.  
  
Eventually, the tears ran dry and she was left a shuddering pathetic lump on the bed. When she had the strength to move, she rolled out of bed, changed into her nightie, and crawled under the covers. She lay there and tried to read from the book Brian had given her but the words didn’t make sense in her mind and she eventually tossed it to the floor in frustration.  
  
Aunt Sharon came to check on her a while later and Amelia pretended to be asleep. She didn’t want to talk to her. She knew her aunt had never wanted children and she’d only taken her in because they were family. She was doing her best. She just wasn’t mum material and every time she made an attempt at it only reminded Amelia of what she’d lost. She couldn’t handle that right now.  
  
Amelia lie awake for a while after, waiting for sleep to come. It wouldn’t.  
  
“I miss you,” she whispered into the silence. The only answer was a faint wheezing sound.  
  
Amelia’s eyes snapped open and she frowned as she realized the strange noise seemed to be getting louder. Closer? She sat up in bed. It sounded like it was coming from her back yard. Throwing the blankets off her, she swung her legs over the side of her bed and sprinted to window. Peeking through the curtains, she spotted a blue box fading in and out of existence right next to her garden shed.  
  
Curiosity won out before worry could even assert itself. She grabbed the torch from her closet. She pulled her Wellies out from underneath her bed and shoved her feet into them. She grabbed her sweater, pulling it on as she crept down the hall. She unlocked the back door and eased outside, shutting it softly behind her, then flicked the torch on. Amelia scampered down the path towards the garden shed and the solid blue box waiting beside it.  
  
She stopped right in front of it, eyes wide and mouth agape. She’d never seen anything like it before. It was easily three times her height and a beautiful deep shade of blue. The words _Police Public Call Box_ glowed at the top and a sign on the door said something about pulling to open.  
  
Glancing around, Amelia crept closer to the box. She raised her free hand and touched the wood. It felt warm, like an oven door as the insides were heating up but not quite hot yet. She lowered her hand and shined her torch around the garden. “Hello?” she called.  
  
When no one answered, she turned back to the box and considered her options. She could go back to bed and check on it in the morning, sit here and wait for something to happen…or she could try to go inside. Curiosity won out before she could even really give the arguably more reasonable options much thought. Amelia reached for the handle and gave it an experimental tug. To her great surprise, the door opened and light spilled out.  
  
It took her a few seconds to realize what she was seeing and then she could not believe her eyes. Inside was a room easily the size of her entire house back in Scotland. Logic said it wasn’t possible. Logic said she should go inside right now. But something (her own curiosity, maybe?) was telling her to step inside. So she did.  
  
The floor beneath her feet was metallic grating. She took a deep breath of the air, so different from the hot summer air outside. Richer, almost, and definitely cooler. A giddy laugh bubbled past her lips and she looked up at the ceiling high above her head. She remembered at the last second to close the door behind her then she stepped up the ramp.  
  
Amelia ran her hand along the large coral column at the top of the ramp. It was warm beneath her hands, almost like it was alive, and it made her fingers tingle. “Magic,” she breathed, gazing around. She licked her lips then called out, “Hello? Is anybody here?”  
  
No response. She was alone. Or so she thought. Unbeknownst to her, even though the occupants of the ship were out, her presence had not gone unnoticed.  
  
The ship’s hum swelled around her and Amelia thought she heard the faintest sound of laughter coming from somewhere to her right. She turned and saw a door at the other end of the room leading further into…whatever this was.  
  
“Hello?” she called.  
  
The laughter came again, high pitched and full of glee. Amelia tucked her torch into the pocket of her sweater and started for the door. She stopped just before it and peered down the long corridor. The walls were the same reddish brown as the room she was in now, bits of coral branching out from the walls, floor, and ceiling. There were several doors along the walls and the end of the corridor branched off in two separate directions.  
  
As she stepped into the hallway, the hard grating gave way into soft carpet. She stopped, lifting her foot, and grimaced when she realized there was a dirty footprint where she’d stepped. She bent over and pulled her boots off and set them behind the closest coral strut. She hopped onto the carpet and wiggled her toes against the soft material.  
  
She heard the laughter once more and set off down the corridor to find the source. Most of the doors she passed were made of ordinary wood. She tried to open a few of them but they were locked. When she reached the end of the hall, she looked in both directions and frowned, waiting for more laughter. When it didn’t happen, she chose the path to her right.  
  
The doors she passed now weren’t nondescript. One of them was made entirely of opaque glass with a shiny handle. She turned it and, to her surprise, the door opened and she found herself staring at a pool surrounded by stone with a waterfall trickling down from an overhand. Her jaw dropped.  
  
Amelia withdrew from the room and shut the door, moving on.  
  
The next door was made of bamboo wood and the word “EARTH ZOO” was carved into it. Oh, this she had to see. She opened the door and was greeted with the sight of five white tigers looking at her through glass about five yards away. Within view of the door she could see, lions, cheetahs, and, believe it or not, three sabre-tooth tigers.  
  
A zoo.  
  
There was a _zoo_ with _sabre-tooth tigers_ inside this box.  
  
She shut the door.  
  
The next room was full of slinkies of all sizes and colors. After the size of this place and the pool she’d decided was prepared for anything. The slinkies, though, she hadn’t seen coming. Undeterred, she plucked a rainbow slinky as wide as a cricket ball at the edge of the room and shut the door. She fiddled with the slinky, pulling it open and pushing it together, as she progressed.  
  
If she were older, she would be questioning exactly how all this was here, but Amelia thought the explanation was simple: magic. The box was magic. Simple enough. The only problem was that magic boxes weren’t just left lying around. There had to be someone somewhere. She’d heard them laughing.  
  
She tried every door she passed. Some refused to open but each one that did revealed a room just as bizarre as the last. She found one room with four ordinary walls and what appeared to be a mural in progress. Dozens of jars of paint and a jug of different paintbrushes sat on a wooden bench near a wall that hadn’t been completed. Amelia, being an art lover, was very tempted. But the pictures were so pretty, much better than anything she could do, and she didn’t want to ruin a fellow artist’s project.  
  
Rounding the corner, Amelia spotted a door with a mat in front of it up ahead. She ran past the others, curious about what sort of warranted a mat. She stopped in front of it and bent over to have a look at the black words written there. At first, she couldn’t understand the strange mess of letters. She thought one of them might have been a lowercase ‘a’ but beyond that it was gibberish. Then, in the blink of an eye, they were in English.  
  
 _Come in and have a cuppa_  
  
“Weird,” she whispered and looked at the door.  
  
There was no handle on this door. She pressed her hand against the side of it experimentally and it swung inward. She pushed it open all the way. Inside was a kitchen. At least, she _thought_ it was a kitchen. It looked like the inside of a tree house. Everything was made of wood. There were even windows, through which she could see sunlight and jungle trees. But it was nighttime! She couldn’t resist stepping inside and the door swung shut behind her, swaying in and out for a few minutes before settling.  
  
Amelia took a deep breath and her nose was filled with the rich smell of fresh wood and fruit. A small table with beautiful carvings all along the sides and legs sat near the wall. A single chair sat on either side of the table, each with a wicker placemat in front of it. There was a wooden basin on the counter beneath one of the windows with a faucet behind it. The sink, she realized. There was no refrigerator; instead there were two wooden iceboxes right next to each other. She lifted the lid of one of them and found that it was bigger on the inside. The interior was divided into sections, each holding a specific thing: like milk, juices, breads, cheeses, some fruits and vegetables she recognized and at least a dozen she didn’t. She found something near the sink that she thought might have been a dishwasher but couldn’t for the life of her figure out how to open it.  
  
The stove was the only thing not made of metal and other than the two dimensional burners, it looked entirely like an ordinary stove. A blue kettle sat on top of one of the front burners.  
  
She heard a faint clink and turned towards the noise. A bright yellow mug sat innocently on the counter. Amelia was sure it hadn’t been there a second ago. Magic, it had to be.  
  
 _Come in and have a cuppa._  
  
Well…someone or something was definitely giving her permission.  
  
With a shrug, she plucked the kettle from the stove and carried it over to the sink. She filled it with water then returned to the stove and turned on one of the burners. She rummaged through the cabinets she could reach and brought one of the chairs over to inspect the ones higher up. She found one cabinet entirely full of teas, some were familiar, some sounded a little familiar but were completely exotic, things she’d never even heard of, and she decided to play it safe and just go for Earl Gray. She returned her chair to the table and sat down to wait for the water to finish boiling.  
  
For the first time allowed herself to think about what she was doing. This box had just _appeared_ in her back yard and what did she do? She just wandered on in and made herself at home. What if this was like Hansel and Gretel and there was a witch waiting for her? She bit her lip at the thought and suddenly the tea didn’t seem very appealing.  
  
Oh, oh what if this _was_ like Hansel and Gretel? She’d walked right into the witch’s house and now the witch was inviting her to have a drink. What if this tea would make her sleep? Any minute now she was gonna swoop in and make her into a pie!  
  
She should go. She should really, really go–  
  
The room shuddered Amelia was nearly knocked to the floor. She screamed. The floor shifted beneath her feet and Amelia felt as if the room were flying upwards…then the sensation faded and the room stilled. But the hum she’d barely noticed before was louder now, almost happier, and she had the sinking suspicion she’d just missed her chance to leave. 


	2. Magic Box - Amelia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For those of you confused about the location of this story in the timeline, I've created a few timelines (a definitive, Rose's, and the Doctors) which can be found in my 'wsitw' tag on tumblr. You can either search the main tag or try to find them in the same tag on my blog (wintermoth).

Amelia picked herself up off the ground and scrambled over to the counter to put the mug and kettle away. She had the mug in her hand when the room around her suddenly lurched violently and she was tossed into the air. She lost her grip on the mug just before she hit the ground and she heard it shatter a few feet away. She whimpered, propping herself up on her hands, but didn’t get to her feet in case the room bucked again.  
  
She tensed as the sound of footsteps reached her ears, faint at first, but growing rapidly louder. Someone was coming this way! What if they came in here? She glanced at the mess she made. No time to clean it up. She searched frantically for a place to hide then crawled for the table. She had the foresight to reach up and snatch the teabag from the tabletop before diving underneath the tablecloth and pressing herself against the far wall.  
  
The bottom of the tablecloth was still swishing when she heard the door open. She held her breath, clutching the teabag tightly to her chest. The tablecloth was too long for her to see even the feet of who’d entered so she had no idea if it was a man or a woman. The footsteps stopped and she just knew the teacup had been spotted.  
  
Amelia heard a soft, annoyed sigh that was definitely feminine. A witch. Oh my God, the witch had found her. She heard the squeak of shoes on the floor and rustling of clothes as the witch crouched down in front of the mess. Quiet, scraping sounds and the clinking of ceramic as the woman began to pick up the pieces.  
  
Maybe she wouldn’t think twice about it. Maybe she’d just assume the mug fell from somewhere. It was entirely possible, Amelia reasoned, for that to be the answer what with all the jerking and bumping going on. Amelia pressed her lips together and breathed as quietly as she could through her nose. If she was lucky, the witch would leave soon and Amelia could sneak out without her ever knowing she’d been here.  
  
So, of course the kettle decided to start whistling then.  
  
At least it muffled Amelia’s terrified squeak. She held her breath again. She waited, utterly still, as the witch stood and walked over to the rubbish bin, disposing the pieces. She brushed her hands together then went to the stove, setting the kettle on another burner, and there was a click as she switched the stove off. A cabinet door opened, something slid across, then the door shut. A mug clinked against the counter. Then she heard water being poured.  
  
Then the footsteps were coming towards her slowly, deliberately. Amelia trembled and forced herself not to move even though every single instinct was screaming at her to run. Oh no, no, no, no. She knew. The witch knew Amelia was here and now she was coming to drag her away to be baked into a pie or boiled into stew. What if she didn’t eat her right away? What if she locked her in one of the rooms and left her there?  
  
The witch crouched down in front of the table. For a moment, everything was still. Then the tablecloth was being whipped up and a blonde young woman was glaring at her very threateningly with a mug of steaming water in her hand.  
  
“Please don’t eat me!” Amelia cried.  
  
The aggressive expression was gone almost immediately, replaced by shock. The witch furrowed her brow. “Beg pardon?”  
  
“I won’t taste good! Honest!” she insisted. “I don’t eat enough vegetables!”  
  
The witch burst out laughing. It wasn’t an evil cackle like Amelia had expected but normal laughing, like she’d just heard the funniest thing ever. Amelia shrank back, utterly baffled. The witch continued to laugh and let the tablecloth drop. She straightened back up and Amelia thought she heard her set the mug down. The witch’s laughter died and she took a few deep breaths. Then she grabbed a fistful of the tablecloth and pulled it upwards enough that Amelia could see a pair of white trainers and the bottoms of jeans.  
  
“Come on out,” she beckoned. She sounded English. “I’m not going to eat you.”  
  
“Are you a witch?” Amelia asked hesitantly. Maybe she wasn’t going to eat her but there were a million other things she could do. Witches were bad.  
  
The witch was silent for a moment. “And why would you think that?”  
  
“Because this is a magic house and witches always use magic houses to lure in kids,” Amelia said matter-of-factly. She was not going to be tricked. Nope. Not her.  
  
“Well, you’re in luck. This isn’t a house and I’m not a witch.”  
  
Amelia hesitated. She didn’t sound like she was lying…. “You sure?”  
  
“Positive.”  
  
Amelia swallowed and briefly considered staying under the table but then she realized that if the woman really wanted to hurt her, the table wasn’t going to stop her. She took a deep breath, then leaned forward onto her hands and knees and crawled out from underneath the table into the light. Glancing up, she noticed the woman had held out her hand. She took it and the woman pulled her to her feet then gave her a quick onceover. She folded her arms, fiddling with her back teeth with her tongue in thought, and seemed to be deciding something.  
  
“What’s your name?” the woman asked.  
  
“Amelia Pond.”  
  
“Rose Tyler.” She glanced at the teabag Amelia was holding. “Want me to fix that tea for you?”  
  
Amelia nodded and handed her the tea bag.  
  
“Alright. Have a seat.”  
  
Rose plucked a pink and white polka dotted mug from the table and returned to the stove. Amelia pulled the chair she’d been sitting in back out and sat down with her back to the wall and watched Rose make the tea.  
  
“I’m sorry I broke your cup,” Amelia apologized. “The room just kinda jumped…”  
  
“Don’t worry about it. We can get another.”  
  
She pulled two mugs from the cabinet and filled them with water and placed the Earl Gray teabag inside one. Then she plucked two more teabags from one of the boxes with strange flavors and put it in the polka dot mug. As she got milk and sugar from the fridge, she asked Amelia how she took her tea and she told her. Rose nodded, not rebuking her for the amount of sugar she’d requested like a normal adult do so close to bed.  
  
Something about her reminded Amelia of Jenny even though they really didn’t look alike at all. Rose was taller and not quite as slender, eyes and mouth too wide, but she was just as beautiful. Her blonde hair was darker and shorter. And she was wearing a purple tie-dye shirt. She couldn’t imagine someone like Jenny wearing tie-dye.  
  
As if sensing Amelia’s staring, Rose turned to study her as well. She cocked her head to the side for a moment then went to another cabinet and procured a pack of chocolate chip biscuits. She dumped them onto a plate, returning the rest to cabinet, then carried the plate to the table and set it in the middle. Amelia reached for one immediately and took a bite. Yummy.  
  
Rose returned with two mugs and presented Amelia one with smiling flowers on it. Then she sat in the chair across from Amelia. Amelia picked up her mug and sipped the tea tentatively, not quite sure what to expect. It was Earl Grey but it tasted…richer, like everything in it was better than any other cuppa she’d had. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise and she immediately took another drink. Rose smiled and lifted her own cup to her mouth.  
  
“So,” she said as she lowered her cup. “Saw a weird box, thought you’d go right on in?”  
  
Amelia shrugged. “Dunno. Just seemed like a good idea.” She wasn’t sure if the woman would believe that she’d felt drawn inside or that she’d heard laughter. “Anyway, it was in my backyard, so it’s not like _I_ was trespassing.”  
  
Rose laughed quietly. It was a nice sound. “Alright, I’ll give you that one. Y’know, you’re braver than I was. What answer did you come up with for the whole ‘bigger on the inside’ thing?”  
  
“Magic,” she said simply.  
  
Rose grinned. “Close enough.”  
  
Amelia took another drink then set the mug down. “You’re not mad at me, are you?” she asked fretfully.  
  
Rose shook her head. “Not at all. I probably would’ve done the same thing when I was your age, to be honest. Besides, I know you didn’t mean any harm.”  
  
“How?”  
  
Rose rapped her knuckle against the wall. “This place–the box we’re in–it’s not a box at all. It’s called the TARDIS–stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. With me so far?” Amelia nodded eagerly. “And it’s alive.”  
  
Amelia’s jaw dropped. A living…ship? She glanced around. Was it like in that one TV show where the house was controlled by a smart computer or did she mean alive like…proper alive…?  
  
“You wouldn’t have made it this far inside, you wouldn’t have been able to find the kitchen if she–the ship–didn’t want you to,” Rose went on. “Which means, if you had any nefarious purposes, she wouldn’t even have let you out of the console room.”  
  
Amelia thought of the laughter she’d heard. Not only had she been allowed out of the console room, she’d been lead here. Maybe the ship liked her? Maybe it had just wanted her to feel welcome because it had manners. She thought of the way the ship hummed, the tingling she felt when she touched the coral, and decided that the magic ship really was proper alive.  
  
Smiling, Amelia reached for another biscuit.  
  
“Of course, now it’s just a matter of what to do with you,” Rose sighed and took another sip of her tea.  
  
“Do with me?” Amelia asked uneasily with her mouth full of biscuit.  
  
“That shuddering and jumping earlier? We, sorta, took off. We’re not on Earth anymore. I mean, I reckon we could just land and take you back but…” She paused, mouth working silently, then she exhaled. “There’s no rush. Been a while since we’ve had anyone else on board.”  
  
“Who’s we?”  
  
“Right, about that.” Rose folded her hands around the mug. “A man is going to show up soon. He doesn’t know you’re here and he’s going to be surprised. Beyond that, I don’t know how he’ll react, but you don’t need to be afraid of him. If you’d like to stay, I say you can.” A wicked smile stretched across her face. “And I can very persuasive.”  
  
Amelia thought about it as she munched on the last of the biscuit. She reached for another, dipping it inside her tea before taking a bite. Did she want to stay? There was still a chance that Rose was a witch and even if she wasn’t, she was still a stranger. But she’d been so kind to Amelia and she wasn’t mad at all. Plus, this ship was _magical_ and full of so many impossible rooms. She wondered if there were more like them she hadn’t seen yet.  
  
She pulled the slinky she’d knicked earlier from her pocked. “I found a room full of these.”  
  
“Really?” Rose made a face. “A slinky room. He’s got a slinky room. Why am I not surprised?”  
  
“I also found a zoo, a swimming pool, a big painting, and a room full of teddies, plus a few others. Are there more rooms like those in here?”  
  
“Loads. I haven’t seen every room and I’ve lived here…gosh, hang on.” She counted silently to herself. “Four years. There’s a whole world–” she stopped mid-sentence.  
  
Amelia froze mid-chew, listening. She didn’t hear anything. Rose cleared her throat and glanced at the door meaningfully, sitting up straighter in her seat. The man was coming. Amelia gulped and stuffed the slinky in her pocket guiltily.  
  
“Ro-ose?” he called as he pushed the door open. He was tall and gangly, a bit like Rory, and wearing a brown suit. His hair was brown and wild like he woke up and decided not to do anything with it or had just come out of a bad windstorm. “I thought you were going to bring the tea into the control room.”  
  
He walked past the table, seemingly unaware of her presence. Amelia glanced at Rose who was watching him with an amused smirk that said she was just waiting for the penny to drop.  
  
“But this works just as well. You’re not gonna believe this. That beacon, it just–” And then he stopped dead in his tracks.  
  
The man turned around, a look of utter confusion on his face. He pointed a finger at Rose, then Amelia, looked at the window, then at the door, and back to them again. He stared for another moment and then said, “She’s ginger.”  
  
Of all the things she thought the man could’ve possibly said right then that was absolutely not one of them.  
  
“She is,” Rose agreed without missing a beat. To Amelia, she added, “He’s got this thing about being ginger. It’s on his bucket list.”  
  
Amelia giggled.  
  
“And…she’s…who, exactly?” He asked, voice going up an octave. He cleared his throat.  
  
“This is Amelia Pond. Amelia, this is the Doctor.”  
  
“Right. And, um, she came from where exactly?”  
  
“Outside.”  
  
“We’re in the vortex!”  
  
“Outside where we landed,” she corrected patiently.  
  
“How’d you get on board?” The Doctor demanded of Amelia, suddenly stern. She shrank back.  
  
Rose came to her defense just like she’d promised. “Doctor. She’s a little girl. How do you think she got on board?”  
  
The Doctor cleared his throat again and relaxed his aggressive stance. “Suppose you’re right. Um…sorry. Amelia, you said? Amelia Pond?”  
  
“Aye,” Amelia whispered.  
  
“Amelia Pond, lovely name. You should definitely keep it.” He told her seriously. He turned towards the counter to grab the mug that had been left on the counter then crossed the room to the table and stood in front of it.  
  
“I’m in your seat,” Amelia realized and started to get up.  
  
“Nah, don’t worry about it. Look behind you.” He inclined his head to something behind her and she turned. There was a chair resting against the wall, identical to the other two, that she was absolutely _certain_ had not been there before.  
  
Amelia gasped. “Where’d that come from?”  
  
The Doctor winked and went to fetch the chair. He set it in front of the table, sat down, and scooted in. “So, then, Miss Pond, what do you think of my ship?”  
  
“It’s magic.”  
  
“Well, actually it’s–”  
  
“It’s magic,” Rose interrupted.  
  
“Yeah, alright. Magic. And I’m the magician!”  
  
Amelia frowned at him dubiously. She was young, not stupid. “I thought you were the Doctor.”  
  
“I am!”  
  
“So why are you in a ‘police box’? Why not a magician box? Or a ‘doctor’ box?”  
  
He cocked his head to the side. “You know, no one’s ever asked me that before.”  
  
Rose laughed. “Maybe I’m a policewoman,” she told Amelia, “and he’s traveling with me.”  
  
Amelia looked her up and down, noting the purple tie-dye t-shirt and jeans again. “You don’t look like a policewoman.”  
  
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m not.”  
  
“So, here’s a question for you, Amelia Pond: why do you sound Scottish?” The Doctor asked. “Because I know we landed smack dab in the middle of England and you sound like you’re from smack dab in the middle of Scotland.”  
  
Amelia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, an’ I always will. My teacher said I would sound English eventually. I’ll show her.”  
  
The Doctor laughed. “There you go! But why are you in England at all?”  
  
“We had to move here. It’s rubbish.” She huffed. “Everybody talks funny and it gets _hot_ down here. But my aunt says I’ll just have to get used to it.”  
  
“And what do your parents day?”  
  
“I…don’t have parents,” she said quietly. “Just my aunt.”  
  
“I don’t even have an aunt.” The Doctor told her. Rose scowled and the Doctor jumped like he’d been kicked under the table. Maybe he had. “I mean–I’m sorry.”  
  
“Everybody’s sorry.”  
  
“Of course they are,” Rose said. “But they don’t understand, do they?”  
  
Amelia shook her head. No, they didn’t. Some people tried to but they just didn’t.  
  
“There’s an empty space where Mum and Dad should be and nothing fills it. It’s very specifically mum-and-dad-shaped whole and no one in the whole wide world can ever fill it just right.” Rose drank the last little bit from her mug and then set it aside. Amelia stared at her. That was…right. That was exactly right. She understood.  
  
Someone finally _understood_.  
  
Amelia felt tears welling in her eyes.  
  
“She’s right. Mum and Dad holes just don’t fill up,” the Doctor agreed and Amelia turned to look at him. “Try having a hole where your entire race should be. Actually, don’t. It’s terrible.”  
  
“Does the hole ever go away?” Amelia asked in a tiny voice.  
  
“No,” both of them answered at once. Her shoulders drooped and she looked crestfallen.  
  
“But it does get easier to forget it’s there,” the Doctor reassured her. “Other people will patch the hole up–make it bearable. It’s always there but you get to a point where it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m not saying it will ever stop hurting–‘cos it probably won’t. But it’ll be part of you and you’ll be stronger for learning how to live with it.”  
  
Amelia reached up to wipe her eyes. “You’re sure?”  
  
“You’re looking at two survivors of mum-and-dad-shaped holes.” He inclined his head towards Rose. “I think we’re doing alright.”  
  
Slowly, a tentative smile stretched across her face and she felt a tiny spark of hope where there previously had been none for a long time. “Thank you. …It was my birthday today. I really…” _missed them, needed them. Needed this._  
  
Thee Doctor ruffled her hair and her nose scrunched up in amusement. “Tell you what. Since you’re onboard, how about a trip?”  
  
“A trip? Where?”  
  
“Anywhere. That’s the beauty of this ship, Amelia. It’s not just bigger on the inside, it can travel through space…and time. We can go anywhere you want, anywhen. The moon landing or the very first permanent human settlement off Earth. The birth of the Earth–wouldn’t recommend the death of it, though. Was a bit rubbish. We can go to a planet where cats walk and talk like us. A cinema that plays any movie ever made on Earth…in 4D. A zoo twenty miles wide. An alien zoo! A continent of theme parks! We could go to the very first movie premiere, visit the Library of Alexandria. We could meet JK Rowling. No wait, 1996. Too soon.”  
  
He spoke so quickly and excitedly like he was eager to show her everything and Amelia was struggling to comprehend everything he said and imagine what they could possibly look like. It was almost too much at once.  
  
“Doctor, slow down,” Rose advised, noticing Amelia’s gawk. “Before you overwhelm her.”  
  
“Sorry,” he apologized to the gawking child. “Or, y’know, if you have absolutely no idea, I can pick. Or the TARDIS.”  
  
“Or maybe you’d like to sleep on it?” Rose offered. “I’m gonna assume from the nightie that you were in bed when you heard us land?”  
  
Amelia nodded in relief. “Yeah. I’d like to think about it.” Just then, a yawn welled up in her chest and she remembered how tiring her day had been. “Um. Do you have a sofa?”  
  
“Even better,” the Doctor said.  
  
Even better was right. They lead her to a room not far from the kitchen with a light blue door. The walls and the pieces of coral protruding from them were painted with pastel colors. Shelves of stuffed animals lined one wall and there was a corner with nothing but art supplies. The bed was small, just the right size for her. There was no lamp or light but the room was clearly illuminated, like the light came from the walls themselves. It was amazing.  
  
“Even better,” Amelia echoed as she stood between the Doctor and Rose, staring at her accommodations.  
  
“We’ll leave you here, then,” Rose said. “You’ll find a small wardrobe for yourself behind those doors–clothes suitable for daily wear will be in there and in your size, no less. The other door leads to an en suit. Everything you need _should_ be in there.”  
  
“But,” the Doctor added, “if not, just think about it is you need. Picture it your mind, then ask. In your mind or out loud, doesn’t matter. It should appear. If not, Rose and I are–” he leaned out into the corridor “–two doors down on the left. I’ve told the TARDIS to keep our rooms and the kitchen in the same hallway so you won’t get lost. Goodnight!”  
  
With that, he turned and sauntered down the hall. Rose and Amelia watched him go and she tried not to feel abandoned. She still wasn’t entirely sure he wanted her here and he didn’t exactly have a reason to stay and make sure she got to bed. She looked up at Rose, unsure if she would or not. Rose was pretty young, probably not Mum-material. She might not even remember what it was like to be put to bed as kid. Did adults remember that sort of stuff?  
  
“Will you be alright?” Rose asked her. “I can tuck you in, if you’d like.”  
  
Amelia nodded. Yes, she’d like, but there was no way she’d have been able to ask for that herself. Rose was already doing a lot.  
  
“You should brush your teeth first.” Rose added as an afterthought.  
  
Amelia made a face. Maybe she _was_ Mum-material. “Really?”  
  
“You did just have tea and biscuits. Besides, I’ve got boxes of this toothpaste from the late 21st century that prevents morning breath entirely. I bet if you look in the loo, you’ll find some. And it tastes like peppermints. Not like…mint-flavored but like you’re actually sticking a real peppermint in your mouth.”  
  
Ooh, that sounded delicious. She quickly located the loo behind one of the doors and the room illuminated itself as she entered, the light coming from everywhere and nowhere just like the bedroom. There was a cup, a fresh red toothbrush waiting on the counter for her and an unopened red tube of toothpaste with a brand she’d never heard of. Rose had said it was from the late 21st century…whenever that was, though Amelia got the feeling that was the future.  
  
Rose was right, she realized as she brushed her teeth. It did taste like real peppermints. She was going to have to take this home with her if she could.  
  
Amelia ducked her head and spit into the sink. She took a drink of water from the cup and spat again. When she raised her head, she looked around the bathroom properly. The walls were painted like they were under the sea with all sorts of fish and things everywhere. The shower curtain, too. She looked down at the child-sized toothbrush in her hand then thought of all the stuffed animals outside.  
  
She left the bathroom with a single question in her mind. Rose was sitting on the bed, staring into space. Amelia called her name softly. Rose shook her head quickly and raised her eyebrows. “Hmm?”  
  
“Why do you have all this stuff?” Amelia asked, glancing at the toys and art supplies. “A-are you a mum?”  
  
Rose shook her head. “No. All of this…is just stuff that was brought onto the TARDIS over the years or things she made herself. She made this room for you. She did the same for me when I first arrived. And Martha–a friend of ours who traveled with us a few years ago–she said her room looked like home.”  
  
“This doesn’t look like home.”  
  
“The TARDIS didn’t have very long. I think she just went for something that would suit a kid. Give her a bit of credit, though, yeah? She built a whole room in, what? Half an hour?”  
  
Amelia nodded and pulled off her sweater. She hung it from the doorknob on the door she’d just emerged from. Rose stood up and pulled the covers back for Amelia to climb underneath. She paused when she was entirely on the mattress then bounced up and down a few times.  
  
“Nice?” Rose asked.  
  
Amelia nodded. “Squishy!” She stopped bouncing a moment later plopped her head against the pillows. “And fluffy.”  
  
“Those are TARDIS-grown pillows,” Rose told her. “And you’ll never find a more comfortable bed anywhere this side of this galaxy for another 400 years. Or so the Doctor says. Of course he might’ve just been trying to impress me with that,” she mused to herself. Amelia grinned.  
  
Rose shrugged and pulled the covers up to Amelia’s shoulders. “Good?”  
  
Amelia nodded and wiggled around until she was comfortable. “Aunt Sharon never tucks me in.”  
  
Rose hesitated for a moment then sat down on the edge of the bed. “Did your Mum?”  
  
“And Dad,” Amelia confirmed with another nod. “Aunt Sharon…she never wanted kids. I’m only with her ‘cos there’s no one else in my family. She’s not exactly mum material.”  
  
“Well, honest, neither am I,” Rose told her. “I just know what my Mum would do in this situation. And she’d never let you go to bed alone and nervous in a new place.”  
  
“You’re very nice,” she murmured.  
  
“Just who I am.”  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
Rose smiled. “I’ll see you in the morning.”  
  
“How will I know when it’s morning?” Amelia asked. There weren’t any windows.  
  
“Technically there is no day or night onboard the TARDIS. But all the clocks track Earth time for me.” Rose looked around the room and then pointed to a round wooden clock hanging from the wall. “There, see? It’s nine o’clock.”  
  
“’Kay.”  
  
Rose smiled once more and patted her arm. “Goodnight.” As she stood, the lights in the room began fading. For a moment, she panicked, wondering if she’d have to explain she was afraid of the dark. But then she realized hadn’t gone entirely dark. There was a bit of light coming from one of the small coral bits sticking out of the wall, like a nightlight. That was cool.  
  
Rose started to go and Amelia was struck by the sudden desire to not be alone on this strange ship so she said the first thing she could think of that would get her to stay. “Aunt Sharon never tells me bedtime stories either. Except on Christmas.”  
  
Sure enough, the blonde woman stopped short. She took a deep breath and her exhale sounded almost like a hiss. Amelia wondered if she’d made her mad. Rose didn’t say anything for a long minute then turned around. There was a gentle smile on her face. She sat back down on the bed and Amelia beamed.  
  
“Alright,” Rose told her. “Just one, though. And go easy on me, I’m not good at this.”  
  
Amelia nodded.  
  
Rose cleared her throat dramatically. “Once…there was a girl. Not a princess, or queen, or witch, or anything else remarkable. She was the daughter of a failed inventor and a hairdresser. They lived in a poor part of town. She worked for a tailor and hated every minute of it but there was nothing else for her to do. She didn’t think she was very smart or even very pretty. No one thought she would ever be anything special. But, then, one night…the mannequins in the tailor’s shop came to life…”  
  
Amelia hung on to every word as she told her the story of the young girl who met a man from the stars and saved the world. If she didn’t know any better, Amelia would think she was listening to Rose’s story. While Rose was talking about the girl’s search for the mysterious man, Amelia allowed her eyes to slip shut. The last thing she remembered hearing was the girl swinging on a chain to rescue the man from the enemy soldiers. 


	3. First Trip - Amelia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Finals came around and stuff got busy. 
> 
> Happy birthday to littlewhomouse, for whom I got my lazy butt in gear to finish this chapter.

  
  
Amelia found that the closet in her room was full of clothes, most of which her size. Some stuff she recognized, others she didn’t. She found a red t-shirt with a faded design on it, a pair of overalls that fit her just right, comfy socks, and white trainers that were exactly her size. One of her bathroom drawers was full of headbands, hair ties, and barrettes for her to choose from. She chose a black headband and slid it on her head then finished brushing her hair. She smiled at her reflection then hurried down the hall to the kitchen.  
  
She could smell them cooking and hear music playing as she approached. When she reached the swinging door, she eased it open and peeked inside. Rose and the Doctor were standing at the stove, each working on a different burner. A song she’d never heard before played from a radio that was far too small to be from her time sitting on the windowsill and the two of them were bobbing their bodies to it. When the vocals started, Rose sang along with them. She had a very nice voice.  
  
As she watched, the Doctor reached around Rose to retrieve a plate from one of the cabinets. As he pulled back, he pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. Amelia’s jaw dropped.  
  
 _Oh!_ She’d thought they might be something more than friends and it looked like she was right!  
  
Rose turned towards a plate of pancakes with a spatula holding two more in her hand and noticed Amelia peering inside the room. “Oh my God,” she blurted, looking her up and down, before immediately pressing her lips together. She set the spatula down.  
  
The Doctor, who was busy with the omelets, turned around with a, “Hmm?” He spotted Amy standing in the doorway and smiled. “Good morning!”  
  
Amelia frowned worriedly and stepped into the room. She wasn’t good on sneaking up on people–Katie always said she made too much noise. Maybe they hadn’t heard her over the music? “Did I scare you?” she asked.  
  
Rose cleared her throat. “No, no, it’s just… I forgot you were from the ‘90s.”  
  
Amelia made a face. What did that mean?  
  
“Have a seat,” Rose said. “We’re almost done.”  
  
She did as she was told, taking the seat she’d sat in the night before. She sat in it sideways so she could watch them work. Her parents almost never had time to cook together but she remembered they could be quite the team. Her Dad had always put on a show whenever Mum had entrusted him with the skillet.  
  
“Do you like milk?” the Doctor asked as he opened the fridge.  
  
“Chocolate especially,” she answered.  
  
“Well…looks like we don’t have any. But! I’ll tell you what we do have!” He reached inside for a moment then straightened up with an item in each hand. “Plain old white milk and chocolate syrup.”  
  
“Woo!”  
  
He flipped the bottle of syrup in his hand and nudged the refrigerator door shut with his hip. He set the half-empty milk gallon and syrup bottle on the table then brought her a cup and a spoon. Unscrewing the lid, she hefted the milk off the table and tilted it up over the cup and silently prayed she wouldn’t spill any. To her relief, she didn’t, and lowered the bottle back to the table with incident. She added more chocolate syrup to the milk than any adult she knew would ever let her get away with and was stirring it up when the Doctor began to bring the plates of food over.  
  
Rose came a moment later with a cup of plain milk and another with something that sort of looked like milk but with a yellowish tinge. She set that one in front of the Doctor.  
  
Amelia wrinkled her nose. “What’s that?”  
  
“Banana milk,” he replied and took a hearty swig, smacking his lips. “Made from bananas grown in the groves of Villengard.”  
  
Amelia stared at him, dumbfounded. “Banana milk?” she asked Rose who was squirting chocolate syrup into her milk.  
  
“It’s not half bad,” Rose reasoned, setting down the bottle.. “But I…” she lifted her spoon. “Prefer chocolate.”  
  
Amelia grinned and looked down at her plate. Pancakes, omelets, and sausage patties and all three looked delicious. The pancakes were filled with fruit. At first she thought they might’ve been blueberries but the more she chewed, she realized that was not the case.  
  
“What’s in this?” she asked with her mouth full of food.  
  
“Gesberries,” the Doctor said.  
  
“What are those?”  
  
“The Ramanian equivalent of a raspberry.”  
  
Amelia looked at Rose for translation, which the woman readily provided. “They’re berries from the planet Raman. We were there a few weeks ago and I got a few cartons of them. I figured you’d like them most out of anything else we have.”  
  
Amelia swallowed the food in her mouth then squinted suspiciously at her plate. “Anything else alien on here?”  
  
“The sausage comes from Calypsa B,” the Doctor said, gesturing at the meat on her plate with his fork. “but it’s a human colony so the animals are just plain old Earth animals. But they were fed much better than any animals from your time,” he added brightly.  
  
“How come you’re so…” she searched for the right word. It was frustrating sometimes having a limited vocabulary–she new there had to be a word to describe what she was thinking but she just didn’t know it. “It’s alien stuff…from another planet…. How come you’re just…?”  
  
“How come we find it easy to eat alien food?” the Doctor asked knowingly. She nodded. “Rose didn’t tell you?”  
  
“No,” Rose replied. “It never came up.”  
  
“What?” Amelia looked between them nervously.  
  
“Amelia, let me ask you something. Do I look human to you?” the Doctor inquired.  
  
Amelia wrinkled her nose. What was that supposed to mean? “What else would you be?”  
  
He set down his fork and slid out of his chair, kneeling down next to her. “Here, give me your hand.”  
  
Amelia hesitated.  
  
“Come on, it’s alight. I’m not going to bite you. There you go,” he said when she extended her free hand towards him. He gripped it gently and moved it to his chest. She could feel his heart beating steadily beneath her hand. Then he moved her hand to the right side of his chest. She could still feel his heart beating like it was right below her hand.  
  
 _No, wait. That’s not how it works._ She frowned, setting down her fork, and pressed her other hand to the other side of his chest. She could feel the beats below her hands, not in sync, but in rhythm with each other. Left right left right.  
  
“Two,” she realized. Amelia looked up at him. “There’s two. How do you have two?”  
  
She withdrew her hands and the Doctor climbed back into his chair. Amelia looked at Rose who was chewing a piece of sausage, completely unsurprised by this news. “How can he have two?”  
  
“Because I’m not human. I’m not even from Earth,” the Doctor told her. “I’m from a planet on the other side of the galaxy.”  
  
Amelia’s eyes widened. “Y-you’re an alien?”  
  
The Doctor nodded. She stared at him for a moment then decided that explanation actually made a lot of sense. “No wonder you’re so weird.”  
  
Rose laughed out loud. The Doctor shot her a look but she didn’t stop. Her laughing diminished into giggles and she reached for her glass.  
  
“What sort of alien?” Amelia asked him. “’Cos you look human.”  
  
“No, you look Time Lord. We came first.”  
  
“Time Lord,” she repeated. “Is that what you are?” He nodded. “Well…that explains the time machine.”  
  
Rose giggled again and Amelia turned to her. “So you’re a Time Lord, too? Or is it Time Lady?”  
  
Rose shook her head. “No. I’m human, like you.”  
  
“But–” she blirted out before stopping herself. Nope. That’d be a rude thing to ask.  
  
“But what?” Rose prompted.  
  
Amelia glanced between the two of them, biting her lip, before leaning forward and murmuring, “Aren’t you two married?”  
  
“Not as such, no,” the Doctor said. “Not officially, at any rate. But even so, just because we’re not the same species doesn’t mean we couldn’t be if we wanted to.”  
  
“Yes it does,” she argued. The Doctor’s eyebrows shot towards his hairline. Like, properly–how did he do that? Was that an alien thing? Her eyebrows couldn’t go that high. “I love kittens and puppies and I wanted a kitten-puppy for Christmas but Mummy said that cats and dogs can’t have babies together because they’re different species.”  
  
“Oh lord,” Rose muttered, lifting her glass to her lips. “I am _not_ giving her the talk.”  
  
“Amelia,” the Doctor began patiently. “Your Mum was right, dogs and cats can’t have babies because they’re too different. But some other alien races can have children with humans. Not all of them, mind, but some. In the future, it’ll happen all the time. But you know what dogs and cats can do? Love each other. Just because they can’t have kitten-puppies doesn’t mean they can’t love each other the way two dogs or two cats love each other.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
“Make sense?”  
  
Amelia nodded thoughtfully. “So you might be able to have a baby but even if you can’t you love each other?”  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
“Then why aren’t you married? Mummy said people who love each other get married. But only adults who properly love each other. Not like best-friends love each other because I wanted to marry Katie ‘cos she was my best friend but Mummy said we were too young and being best friends wasn’t the right kind of love.”  
  
The Doctor smiled at her amusedly. “Well, your Mum was right on that one.”  
  
“But you two are grownups and you love each other–I can tell,” she added proudly. “So why aren’t you married?”  
  
“It’s not always that simple, sweetheart,” Rose said gently. “Marriage means different things to different people. Even on Earth, marriage is different depending on where you go, and he’s from a whole different planet. …We don’t _need_ to be married. We’re happy, we love each other, yes, and we’re together.”  
  
“Oh,” she repeated, at a loss for anything else to say. “Okay. …You act married, though.”  
  
“Told you,” Rose muttered to the Doctor.  
  
With nothing else to say, Amelia picked up her fork to finish off the pancakes that had started the whole conversation. Then she tried the sausage. The Doctor must’ve not been kidding when he said the animals were raised better–this was the best sausage she’d ever eaten!  
  
“So,” the Doctor asked, “given any thought to where you’d like to go?”  
  
Amelia frowned at him. “This is a spaceship, you aid?”  
  
“It is,” the Doctor agreed. “How else do you think I got to your planet?”  
  
“Just don’t see how a box can be a spaceship,” she said lightly as she stabbed her fork into another piece of sausage.  
  
“The box is just a disguise so it doesn’t stand out. Plus there’s perception filter around it so no one notices.”  
  
“Except me,” Amelia said matter-of-factly.  
  
The Doctor’s brow furrowed thoughtfully. “Yeah…”  
  
“Prove it,” she dared.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Show me space.”  
  
The Doctor raised his eyebrows and then his mouth stretched into a smug grin. “As you wish.”  
  
After the dishes were set in the sink and they explained that the TARDIS would clean the dishes itself, the three of them made their way back to the console room. Amelia was confused as the route was not the one she’d taken but the Doctor assured her he knew where he was going and that the TARDIS must’ve rearranged the corridors and rooms for her last night.  
  
In the console room, Amelia noticed her red wellies were still behind the big piece of coral where she’d left them. She ducked down behind the coral and picked them up. “I forgot I left these here,” she said.  
  
“I wondered why you were barefoot,” the Doctor ruminated. “Just set ‘em down. The TARDIS will move them to your room for you.”  
  
Amelia shrugged and did as she was told. She straightened up and glanced at Rose, wondering if she should ask how the ship would do such a thing, and when she looked back, the boots were gone. Just gone! Like they’d never even been there.  
  
Her jaw dropped. “I love your magic box,” she whispered.  
  
The Doctor bounded over to the console and started messing with the buttons and levers. “I’ve set the TARDIS to materialize over planet Earth, two weeks after the night we picked you up. Know what that means? When you go home, two weeks from the night you came aboard, you can look up at the sky and know there’s a slightly younger version of yourself looking down at you.”  
  
Her eyes widened.  
  
The ship shuddered into reality and the Doctor flipped a switch. He leaned against the console and smiled at Amelia. “Well…” He inclined his head towards the doors. “Go have a look.”  
  
Amelia didn’t have to be told twice. She scampered around the console and down the ramp to the doors. Rose hurried after her with a warning cry of, “Careful!”  
  
Amelia pulled the door open and found herself staring out at the endless blackness of space, lit only by the pinpricks of far off suns, and the glow of the sun on the plant below. Space.  
  
It. Was. _Space!_  
  
The air rushed out of her in small sound of disbelief. Immediately she worried that this could’ve been a bad thing indeed but when she inhaled, air flowed into her lungs with ease.  
  
Rose pulled the other door open as well then placed her hand on Amelia’s shoulder protectively.  
  
“H-how are we breathing?” Amelia blurted. “My teacher said there’s no air in space.”  
  
“There’s not,” the Doctor confirmed just behind them. “The TARDIS has shields that hold the air and the warmth in. They extend a few feet around the ship. A little protective bubble.”  
  
Protective bubble? Did that mean…?  
  
Amelia cautiously extended her hand outside and wiggled her fingers around. The change in temperature was sudden and unexpected. While the inside of the ship was comfortably warm, space was cold. It was like sticking her hand outside in the winter. Then, to her surprise, her hand began to drift upwards of its own accord. She wiggled it back and forth and realized that the part of her arm outside the door felt kinda hollow. Empty. Weightless?  
  
She grinned in wonder. “Feels funny.”  
  
“There’s no gravity out there.”  
  
Amelia frowned thoughtfully as she recalled what her teacher had said about gravity. It was the thing that kept them on the planet so they didn’t float away. If there was no gravity out there then maybe that meant she could float.  
  
She grabbed onto the side of the door, sliding out from beneath Rose’s hand, and leaned out of the ship. Immediately the weight seemed to leave her and she felt her body drifting. Rose lunged forward and seized Amelia’s wrist but she needn’t have worried. Amelia’s hands were gripping the wood firmly and she had no plans to let go any time soon. Her body began to float upwards of its own accord and she let out a tiny squeal at the sensation.  
  
She craned her neck, peering over her outstretched arms at planet Earth below her. It was so big. There was so much blue! And plenty of greens and browns, too. It was beautiful.  
  
“Doctor, help me pull her back,” Rose said frantically, jerking Amelia out of her thoughts.  
  
“No, she’s alright,” he assured her. “But I have a better idea. Amelia, swing your legs around.”  
  
It took her a few tries but Amelia managed to swing herself around so her body was lying parallel to the floor. Her body didn’t quite want to cooperate and she had to use her grip on the ship to give herself the boost she needed. When she was in place, the Doctor took hold of her right ankle and then told both of them to let go.  
  
Amelia let go of the door. Rose glanced apprehensively at the Doctor but at his reassuring smile, released Amelia’s wrist.  
  
Her body began to float upwards. She floundered around, struggling to get upright, and Rose finally gave her a little push in the right direction. Amelia floated above them, her entire body in space for the first time. She felt lighter than a feather. Any air in her lungs was weightless. Her hair floated around her like a mermaid’s in the water. She felt free.  
  
Craning her neck, she could see the part of space that she ship had previously concealed. The sun was that way. It was still very bright but it didn’t quite hurt as much to look at it. But then the Doctor realized what she was doing and told her to not look for long, it could still hurt her eyes. So she turned her attention back to the enormous planet below her.  
  
Yet it was so…small. She could see the UK down there, and specs of light where she knew the bigger cities were located. Somewhere down there was home and a slightly-older version of herself. Was she looking at the sky? Was she sleeping? Rory was down there, too. And Katie. And her aunt and everyone she ever knew and everywhere she’d ever been was down there but they were so… _small._  
  
She looked around at the rest of space she could see–all the stars twinkling, all of them so very far away–and the endless blackness in between. She wondered how many other worlds were out there. The Doctor had mentioned at least eight different planets so far but she knew there had to be hundreds–no, thousands–more. Maybe even millions! And, oh, what about all the other galaxies out there? There had to be hundreds of those, too, and they all had stars and planets and people and–  
  
“Come on, Amelia,” the Doctor called and tugged her down. She yelped in surprise as he pulled her back inside the ship, which turned into a giggle as he caught her against his chest. He set her down the ground. “Well?” he asked. “Do you believe us now?  
  
“It’s a spaceship! A real, proper spaceship!” She poked her head back outside. “We are in space! Woo!!”  
  
“And it’s a timeship, as well.” The Doctor leaned around her and pushed the door shut. Rose stepped out of the doorway and closed the other door. The Doctor bounded back up the ramp to the console. “So, Miss Amelia Pond, all of time and space. Literally anywhere that has ever been, anywhen that ever will be–all if it. Where do you want to go?”  
  
She’d been thinking about this last night and this morning. There were so many places but, in the end, she’d settled on something she knew she really wanted. “Can we go to a theme park? I’ve always wanted to go to one.”  
  
“Theme park, eh?” He nodded. “Alright, alright. I like the sound of that. Lemme think…”  
  
“Disney?” Rose suggested.  
  
“The Disney in California,” Amelia amended. “The real one. Or Florida.”  
  
“We could do that,” he agreed. “Or we could go to the Disney Moon. Imagine it. A moon almost the same size as yours devoted entirely to the works of Walt Disney, including replicas of the other associated parks.”  
  
“There’s an entire moon that’s a theme park?” she asked in disbelief.  
  
“Yep. Opens in the year 2673.”  
  
“Are there others like that?” she asked.  
  
“Other Disneys? Loads. Or d’you mean other theme parks that big? Oh, oh much, much bigger. I once went to one that covered the entire planet.”  
  
Amelia’s eyes widened. An entire _planet_? “There. I wanna go there! Can we go there, please?” She turned to Rose and tugged on her sleeve. “Please?”  
  
Rose laughed, shaking her head. “Yeah, ‘course we can. Right Doctor?” She asked, looking up at him.  
  
“Absolutely!” He darted around to the monitor. “I actually have the coordinates saved in here, let me have a look.” While he was typing, he suggested they both get jackets as the planet was cooler than Earth.  
  
“I don’t know how to get back to my room,” Amelia said.  
  
Amelia felt a tap on the top of the head and looked up. Rose pointed at something behind her. She turned to look. There on the railing were two jackets: an adult-sized blue leather one and a child-sized red windbreaker.  
  
“I love this ship,” she whispered with a shake of her head. The windbreaker was meant for someone a bit bigger than Amelia. The sleeves fell down to her fingertips. But that was alright, she didn’t mind. She could keep her hands warm this way. She zipped it up and pulled the hood over her head then spread her arms out wide. “Well?”  
  
“I think we’re gonna have to start calling you Little Red,” the Doctor said from across the room. “All you need is a basket.”  
  
Amelia grinned. She loved that story. “So are you the woodcutter who’ll slay the big bad wolf?”  
  
“And why do you think the wolf needs slayed?” Rose questioned as she zipped her jacket up part of the way.  
  
Her grin melted into a frown. “He ate the granny and was gonna eat Little Red Riding Hood.”  
  
“That doesn’t make him evil. Wolves aren’t like people. They don’t kill for sport. They kill to protect themselves and to eat. For all you know, that wolf could’ve gone weeks without eating when he found Little Red. A defenseless child in the forest is an easy meal–but not much of one. He’d be hungry again soon. But with both the granny and Red, he wouldn’t be hungry for a while.”  
  
Amelia cocked her head to the side contemplatively. “I never thought about it like that.”  
  
“You should keep an open mind, Little Red,” the Doctor advised. “And we’re off!”  
  
Their destination turned out to be Hedgewick’s World of Wonders. They landed in the middle of what Rose claimed was a car park. But it didn’t look like any parking lot Amelia had ever seen. For one, the ground was metal instead of that black stuff parking lots were usually made out of. There were no cars, either. Instead there were rows and rows of parked spaceships of all shapes and sizes, some looked like things she’d seen in moves and others she wondered how they were even able to fly. In the distance she could see some ships taking off and others descending onto the planet.  
  
She looked in both directions but could see no end to the rows of ships. Car parks were not that big.  
  
The TARDIS was easily the smallest of the lot and Amelia had to admit it looked pretty unimpressive next to the cruiser in the space beside theirs. She thought it better not to tell the Doctor that. Besides, she doubted any of them were quite as magnificent on the inside or could make her a pretty bedroom or move her boots to that bedroom in the blink of an eye.  
  
At the front of their parking space (which was clearly designed to fit something like the cruiser next to theirs) was a small hovering sphere. They walked around to the other side and Amelia realized it was some sort of screen. The Doctor pressed his hand to the screen. It hummed, a blue light flashed, and then a screen and a keyboard appeared over it. They didn’t appear to be solid except when the Doctor began typing on them, their colors inverted in response and she saw information appearing on screen.  
  
While he was typing away, the Doctor explained that they were on an island the size of France that was entirely meant for parking. Amelia’s jaw dropped again and she looked around at the countless spaceships with new understanding.  
  
Her attention was drawn to a smaller ship in the next row over where a family was disembarking. They were most definitely not human. They had two legs and two arms but their skin was rich green, like a Christmas tree, and they were all bald…and they appeared to have wings. At least she _thought_ they were a family. There were three taller aliens and a single small one. Their clothes looked pretty normal, from what she could see.  
  
“What are they?” she asked, pointing. The Doctor followed her gaze and squinted. “Well…I’d need a closer look to say for sure. But I think they’re musis. See how there’s three adults? If they’re musis then they’re all married.”  
  
“That’s allowed? I thought only two people could be married.”  
  
“Not true,” he said. “Not even on your planet. But not only allowed on their planet, it’s expected. Their species has three genders and it takes all three to create and effectively nurture a child. So much so that they can only have one child at a time.”  
  
Amelia cocked her head to the side and watched them. Aliens. Proper aliens.  
  
It suddenly occurred to her that she was standing on an _alien planet_. After floating in space, the shock of standing on a new planet had been lost on her and it was suddenly rearing up with full force. She gasped. “I’m on a different planet!”  
  
The Doctor stopped typing and looked down at her oddly. “Yes,” he agreed slowly. “You have been for about four minutes now.”  
  
“I just realized!”  
  
“Well, file that one under ‘longest delayed reaction’,” he muttered to himself as he went back to typing. Amelia pouted.  
  
“Bein’ rude again,” Rose sing-songed under her breath.  
  
“Excuse me!” a rather miffed voice interrupted. Amelia turned around. An alien that looked like a walking white stick with skinnier sticks as arms (four!) and legs (two, thankfully) wearing what looked like an official uniform was marching towards them along the thick yellow line separating parking spaces.  
  
“What’s that?” Amelia asked louder than she’d intended.  
  
The alien stopped in front of them and shot her an affronted scowl. She realized how rude she’d just been and flushed with embarrassment.  
  
“I’m sorry,” Rose apologized giving the man a look of utter sincerity. “This is her first time out in space and she hasn’t seen very many other races before. She didn’t mean to be rude.”  
  
“It’s…quite alright,” the alien said after a moment. Amelia couldn’t quite tell what gender the alien was. Its voice was high and reedy, like a clarinet trying to speak.  
  
The alien turned to the Doctor. “What are your designated pronouns?”  
  
“Male,” the Doctor said.  
  
“Very well, then, sir. We do not permit spacecraft teleportation to and from the planet’s surface. Unless you have a reservation, I must insist you join the queue in orbit around the planet.”  
  
The Doctor arched his eyebrows and reached into his pocket. “And I must insist you make an exception.” He pulled out a brown wallet and flipped it open, holding it out to the alien. Amelia craned her neck to have a look but she couldn’t see what was inside but whatever it was caused the alien’s skin to suddenly turn a warm shade of brown.  
  
“I am Sir Doctor of TARDIS. This is my wife, Dame Rose, and the daughter of our king: Amelia. We’ve been entrusted with her safety and instructed to accompany her on her birthday outing.”  
  
“Oh, m-my apologies.” The alien handed the wallet back to the Doctor. It took a step away and bowed from a point about halfway down its body.  
  
“It’s quite alright,” the Doctor replied. “Normally we’d have gone through the usual channels but we were attempting to be discreet. If we had made any official reservations, well, I’m sure you know someone would have found out. And,” he cleared his throat, “strictly speaking, the first time the princess went intersolar was supposed to be on a diplomatic voyage. Could raise some eyebrows that would best be kept down, if you catch my drift.”  
  
“Yes, of course, sir.” The alien gave Amelia a kind smile. “Happy birthday, young highness.”  
  
Amelia blinked then cleared her throat and straightened, pushing her shoulders back and lifting her chin in a way she hoped seemed regal. “Thank you. And…’m sorry I was rude.”  
  
The alien glanced around then leaned in close. “It’s quite alright. Between you and me, I said some rather embarrassing things when I was young myself.” The alien straightened and addressed Rose. “While he finishes registering your ship, I’ll summon someone here from Reservations to talk to you about hotels and ticket packages. I assume money is not an issue?”  
  
Rose shook her head and from her pocket she procured a round piece of plastic. “Spatial credits.”  
  
“Excellent.” The alien pulled a thin oval-shaped tablet from its pocket and pressed a few buttons on screen. A moment later, the alien smiled. “A representative will be here in about thirty seconds.”  
  
“Thank you,” Rose said with a warm smile.  
  
“My pleasure.”  
  
“What’s your name?” Amelia asked.  
  
“Gege, your highness,” the alien replied.  
  
“Are you…are you a boy or a girl?”  
  
“Neither.” The alien bowed low so they were eye-to-eye. “My species has no genders.”  
  
Amelia was completely dumbfounded. She didn’t know much about how babies were made but she knew you needed a boy and a girl to do it. How did they have babies? Did they have words like ‘she’ and ‘he’? How did they–  
  
There was a sharp humming noise to her right and she jumped, turning in surprise. A new alien was standing on a circular platform at the edge of their parking space. This one looked kind of like a human, covered in beautiful scales that looked like opals, silvery hair twisted into a single braid that nearly brushed the ground, and wore a green uniform similar to Gege’s. Amelia thought this new one was female but she was coming to realize that she couldn’t trust her eyes.  
  
“Well,” said Gege. “I’ll leave you in this one’s hands. Good luck. And happy birthday.” With one last smile smile, the genderless sticklike alien strode off the way it came.  
  
“I am Karo,” the new alien greeted. This one definitely was a female.  
  
Rose returned the handshake. “Rose.”  
  
“I was told you are high priority guests in need of last minute reservations.”  
  
Rose repeated the same story the Doctor had told Gege and Karo nodded in understanding. “Well, I am certain we can find something for you. Happy birthday,” she added to Amelia. Amelia thanked her, though she was sure by this point her birthday was technically over.  
  
“Now, how many days were you wanting to stay?” Karo asked as she pulled a thin rectangular object from her pocket and pressed a tiny button on the side. A screen sprung up over it, like the one the Doctor was messing with over there.  
  
“Doctor?” Rose called. “How long are we staying?”  
  
The Doctor looked up from the sphere’s screen. “Oh, let’s say…one of this planet’s weeks. That’s three of your days,” he added for Amelia and Rose’s benefit. Amelia’s eyes widened.  
  
Karo went through a list of resorts and hotels on the screen, telling a bit about them, as well as their location on the planet, and nearby attractions. Amelia’s mind was buzzing trying to decide which one she wanted to stay at most. A lot of them sounded really cool. Except the one located near a volcano–that one sounded scary.  
  
“She has a fondness for the Earth Disney classics,” Rose said. “Do you have any Disney here?”  
  
“Unfortunately, the Disney Galactic Entertainment Corporation is not affiliated with us.” Karo answered. “They’re keeping to themselves on those moons of theirs in the Milky Way. But, we do have the Sol Subcontinent, which is devoted to classic Earth with rides and attractions designed for humans, based on archived blueprints and footage old theme parks built in the Sol system and Earths original intersolar colonies. None of the Classic Disney parks, though.”  
  
“Can we go there?” Amelia piped.  
  
“Sounds good to me. Doctor?” Rose asked over her shoulder.  
  
“Sol Subcontinent here we come,” he replied without looking up.  
  
Rose smiled at the alien woman. “Alright, then. What have you got around there?”  
  
“Hmm.” Karo tapped a button on the screen and a new list popped up. “Do you like to swim, princess?”  
  
“Yes,” she said.  
  
“Then might I recommend the Rubian Rays Resort? It’s not among our top ten finest but since you’re trying not to draw too much attention, I think this might be more suitable than, say, the Grand Oceanic. It is right on the Rubian Sea with a beautiful view of the sunsets and the closest resort to the Water World entrance and the dolphin tours. The closest teleport hub is exactly five hundred feet from the hotel entrance, allowing quick and easy access to the rest of the Subcontinent. There is a special hub located in the north for access to the rest of the world regions and are marked on all our world maps. Speaking of which, would you like a brochure or world map to carry with you? We have them in digital and hardcopy formats.”  
  
“Can I have the hardcopy?” Amelia asked.  
  
“Certainly.” Karo reached into her pocket and pulled out a blue brochure and handed it to her. It read ‘Hedgewick’s World of Wonders’ in bright gold print with a wonderful overhead picture of part of the park at night.  
  
While Rose and the Doctor discussed the reservation details, Amelia opened the brochure to read. There was a bit of history about the planet, stuff about the original owner Hedgewick and something about ‘cyber wars’ that made no sense. The planet had 9 continents, 8 islands, 2 seas, and 5 rivers of attractions and descriptions of each. One of the continents was where the park employees lived and was not open to the public. Three of the islands were car parks–or, rather, ship parks.  
  
In the back of the pamphlet was a list of common species and which parks were best for them. Humans were good in all but four of the areas. At the bottom there was a note that said to ask a park attendant if they had questions and did not see their species listed, while assuring them that there were accommodations available for visitation to all parts of the planet.  
  
Karo showed them how to work the teleport pads–actual _teleport pads_ – and set it to deliver them to the main hub in the Sol Subcontinent. Just before Amelia climbed on, she realized all she had were the clothes on her back. No clothes to wear tomorrow or the next day, no toothbrush, hairbrush, or anything. She quickly voiced her concerns to the Doctor and Rose.  
  
“Don’t worry, Little Red” the Doctor reassured her. “I’ve got everything we need.”  
  
She shrugged her shoulders and stepped onto the teleport pad, pressing close to Rose. It was big enough to fit probably six grownups but she still felt like there wasn’t enough space between her and the edge.  
  
“Once you reach the Subcontinent Hub, you’ll want to take the teleport to the Rubian Region, destination RRR,” Karo instructed. “The hotel is located five hundred feet away. You can’t miss it. I hope you enjoy your visit to Hedgewick’s World of Wonders.”  
  
“We will. Thank you for your help,” the Doctor said. He placed his foot on the red dot in the center of the pad.  
  
A strange sensation flared in Amelia’s body, like a thousand tiny critters crawling across her skin. Her blood felt hot then like ice as a white light flared around them. She screamed. Or she tried to but no sound came out. She tried to close her eyes but it was like her eye lids were gone and her ears were full of white noise and for a horrifying second she couldn’t feel Rose’s body or anything else and she was _nothing_ –  
  
Then it was over. The light and sensations faded, her body felt normal, she could feel Rose behind her. Her hearing returned several seconds after, gradually, and she realized they were in a crowded place.  
  
Amelia gasped loudly and swayed on the spot. A pair of hands clamped down on her shoulders to steady her and she looked up at the Doctor. “What was that?!” she wailed, ready to cry.  
  
“That was teleporting,” he explained. “And one of the better sort. Takes a bit of getting used to but, don’t worry, we probably won’t be doing that very much. You good, Rose?”  
  
“Fine,” she said brightly.  
  
The main hub was quite crowded and everywhere she looked Amelia saw something new. There were dozens of species, all different sizes and colors. Some of them looked human, some of them were human-ish, and others not at all. She spotted two who looked like Karo and about a dozen that looked like Gege. She wanted to stop and stare at them all but the Doctor and Rose each had hold of one of her hands and they were weaving expertly through the crowd.  
  
It occurred to her right around the time that the Doctor was talking to the attendant at the Sol Subcontinent podium that she could understand everyone. A few seconds after that she realized that this shouldn’t be possible. How could alien in the future speak English? Not even everyone on Earth could speak English. She couldn’t speak anything but English!  
  
She tugged on Rose’s arm. “Rose?”  
  
Rose looked down at her. “Hmm?”  
  
“Why can I understand everyone?”  
  
“Oh! Right. Forgot about that. The TARDIS has a telepathic translator. Um, basically, she’s translating everything for you inside your head so you can understand everything you hear and see. Make sense?”  
  
“Lots.”  
  
They got on another teleport pad and the trip was just like the previous time but this time she was ready and it wasn’t quite so bad. When they…reformed or whatever it was when they arrived, the first thing she saw was water. Endless water, stretching out forever. Their teleport pad was at the top of a hill that sloped down towards a beach. There was a road leading down to the sand with several shops lining each side and no les than fifty people making their way up and down the road.  
  
The hotel was unlike anything she’d ever seen. It was completely iridescent and the sky and ocean reflected off the shiny surface. Inside was just as pretty, everything a mix of red and sandy hues. The Doctor got them checked in and they rode glass lift up to the 14th floor. He gave her their room key and let her run ahead to find room 1411. She barely avoided colliding with a woman who looked oddly like a dog on two legs coming around the corner. The woman yelped (like a dog!!) and Amelia shouted an apology over her shoulder.  
  
Amelia ended up running right past their room without realizing and had to turn around and go back. She stopped in front of the door, hopping from foot to foot, and waited for the Doctor and Rose to catch up. It took them ten seconds to round the corner and then she couldn’t wait any more. Amelia had never stayed in a hotel, though, so she wasn’t exactly sure what to do with the little card in her hand. Actually, she didn’t see a doorknob either.  
  
The Doctor, thankfully, knew what to do. He showed her the card reader next to the door and how she had to hold the card up just right in front of it to unlock the door. The reader beeped and she heard the door unlock and then the door slid open like in a sci-fi movie.  
  
Their room was huge and fancier than anything she’d ever seen–and this wasn’t even one of the fanciest hotels in the park! There were two beds, two dressers, a couch, a screen in the wall that might be a TV, and a large window covering the entire far wall with a beautiful view of the ocean. There was a big bathroom with a bathtub and…well, she thought it was a toilet. She’d have to ask. There was also a kitchen with what she _assumed_ were appliances.  
  
“It’s a suite,” the Doctor explained cheerfully. “I figured it’d be better than a basic room. Though I don’t think we’ll be needing the kitchen very much.”  
  
Amelia spun around to face them with a giddy smile on her face. “What can we do first?”

 

 


	4. Little Red - Amelia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So y'know how I said this was gonna be the last chapter? I lied. The last arc of this story sorta took on a life of its own and it needs its own chapter. So next chapter should HOPEFULLY be the last. Cross your fingers? Not that I see people gettin too mad if I go another chapter after. ALL THE BABY AMELIA STORIES!!!

  
The days and nights on Hedgewick’s World passed so quickly. The Doctor said that about two days on this planet equaled one on her own. For the first time in her life, Amelia stayed up all night. With so many people from so many worlds and so many different solar cycles, the Doctor told her that there were some people who stayed awake an entire Hedgewick Week before going to bed.   
  
There were so many people around them, all of them so different from her, even the ones who looked the same because the Doctor told her, on the inside, their bodies had changed over the years. They were still human just…newer models of human. It was almost overwhelming.  
  
“Culture shock,” the Doctor said sympathetically when he noticed. “Happens to the best of us. But don’t worry, Little Red, I think you can handle it.” And she refused to prove him wrong.   
  
They spent a lot of time in the shops on their first day buying a wardrobe for their stay. This apparently was the Doctor’s idea of “having everything sorted.” The assistant thought Amelia’s “Vintage Late 20th Century Earth” look was utterly adorable. Amelia didn’t quite know what to say to that. This was how all the kids back home dressed. When the assistant wasn’t looking, Rose muttered into her ear that they were about ten thousand years in the future and the three of them might as well be wearing Ancient Roman togas in Trafalgar Square. Amelia ended up getting three shirts, two pairs of shorts, a skirt and leggings, another pair of socks, and a pair of flip flops.   
  
The Doctor refused to buy new clothes and Rose assured her this was normal for him. But then Amelia found a t-shirt the park’s logo that said ‘I’m with the birthday girl’ and she gave him her biggest pleading expression and he caved. Back at the hotel, he changed out of his suit jacket and shirts and wore the t-shirt for the rest of the day.  
  
There were some roller coasters that Rose wanted to ride but she outright refused to go on. Too big or too high or too many loops. During these, they’d usually wait in line so Rose could go, and when it was over, Rose would tell her exactly how bad it was and sometimes Amelia would try them herself. Most of the time she didn’t. There were some rides only she could go on because her new friends were simply too big to fit in the cars, though these didn’t tend to be quite as much fun.   
  
There was a ride called the Spacey Zoomer that was built to resemble the Earth’s moon and was supposed to be like you were on the moon itself. Amelia didn’t know how great it would be after floating in space but she found she quite liked jumping when gravity wasn’t there to yank her right back down. It was almost like flying. Rose and the Doctor were clearly experts at moving in lower gravity because they were twisting and flipping and were at least somewhat graceful while Amelia merely bounced and rolled.   
  
During the days and nights they spent in the hotel to sleep, the Doctor and Rose shared one of the beds and Amelia shared her bed with Trumpet, the large stuffed elephant she’d won at a carnival game on the first day. She wasn’t quite sure but Amelia suspected the Doctor never actually slept. She woke up once or twice in the middle of the night, forgetting where she was, and the Doctor was always awake. She didn’t see how it was possible for him to not be sleeping but maybe it was an alien thing. Maybe he was used to very long days and nights on his planet. Maybe he’d go a week just sleeping sooner or later.   
  
They stood in queues that lasted an hour sometimes and the Doctor and Rose kept her entertained by telling her stories of their adventures. During a queue to get into a ride that was based off something called Harry Potter, the Doctor began telling her all about the books, which would eventually become movies, and would be one of the “greatest cultural phenomena” of the 21st century. Apparently the first book was going to be released very shortly back in her time. For the rest of the day, while they waited in lines, and at meals, the Doctor told her the first Harry Potter book from memory. He even had different voices for each character. She made a mental note to go buy the book when it came out but she had a feeling it wouldn’t be quite the same as hearing him read it.  
  
With the days passing at such an unfamiliar speed and her mind lost in a whirl of rides, games, food, sore feet, adrenaline, and glee, she completely lost track of time. There were even times where she forgot everything that had been hurting her. Moments where it was as if she hadn’t known any life but her life with the Doctor and Rose and when she remembered this was not so, she wasn’t nearly as guilty as she thought she should be. It was absolutely the most fun she’d ever had in her entire life and she never wanted to leave.  
  
Then the next thing she knew, they were checking out of the hotel.   
  
She knew she shouldn’t complain. No one else back home would ever get the chance to see this place, let alone spend three days in it. But the thought of leaving still made her want to cry.  
  
Plus, she was pretty sure the Doctor had specifically said one trip, which meant she was probably going to be home before bed. That thought actually did make her cry. No one commented—apparently a crying child on her way out of the park wasn’t uncommon. Rose at least noticed, she was sure of it.   
  
When they boarded the TARDIS with their arms full of their prizes and purchases and the Doctor flew them away, Amelia was sure that this was it. Next stop: Leadworth. Back to her normal, boring life in England with no aliens or magic or worlds of wonder.  
  
But the Doctor did no such thing.  
  
“Right, then, time for bed, I think,” the Doctor said.   
  
Amelia blinked at him. “What?”  
  
“You’ve been awake about twelve hours. Twelve exhausting hours for someone your age, which means it’s time for the young humans in this ship to go to bed.”  
  
“I’m technically still young,” Rose pointed out. “Sending me to bed, too?”  
  
“Not quite yet.” He gave her a strange smirk that disappeared when he turned to Amelia. “Go on, Little Red.”  
  
“Want me to help you put your things away?” Rose asked.  
  
Amelia gripped Trumpet the elephant tighter in her arms and nodded. They started to leave, but then the Doctor called them back. “Actually, I need to have a word with Rose real quick. She’ll be down in a few minutes, okay?”  
  
Rose gave the Doctor a confused look but nodded. Amelia did as well then took her leave.  
  
She was shocked. She thought for sure he’d be dropping her at home now, not inviting her to spend the night again. It made sense for him to drop her off right after he picked her up so Aunt Sharon would never know and since it’d been bedtime, right now while she was tired should be perfect.  
  
He’d probably take her home tomorrow morning.   
  
He didn’t.   
  
Instead, he took them to Clista Zoo in the year 2281. It was the single largest zoo on Earth to date and would remain that way for a very long time. It had every known species on the planet, every breed and variation, with the exception of common house pets like dogs and cats. The zoo was divided into different areas based on temperate zones and then geographical locations. Another area of the zoo was a large aquarium divided in similar ways with every type of fish and acquatic species they had discovered with the exception of deep sea creatures which they had yet to discover a way to safely house while still allowing for public viewing. But they had pictures! This prospect excited her greatly until she actually got a look at them and realized exactly _what_ was living at the bottom of the ocean and quickly decided her life would’ve been happier if she hadn’t known. They left that area in a hurry and stuck to the shallow water fish instead.  
  
She especially liked the polar bears, which were located just outside the aquarium in the area dedicated to polar animals.   
  
After the crowds on Hedgewick’s World, the throngs of people in Clista Zoo were nothing. What was disconcerting was the sheer number of human beings. After days surrounded by aliens, it was bizarre being around nothing but her own kind. She also was getting some funny looks from people and she had the sinking suspicious it had to do with the way she was dressed. She remembered Rose’s toga analogy and realized it probably applied here as well. This was much closer to home but it was still nearly three hundred years away from her own time.   
  
She spent a few minutes while they were waiting in line at an ice cream stand observing how everyone was dressed. The fashions were weird and the clothing style had definitely evolved in the last few hundred years and blending in wasn’t going to be easy as long as she was wearing three hundred year old stuff. She un-tucked her shirt from her shorts, pulled them down a few inches to her hips instead of over her belly button, and pulled the hair ties out of her hair and shook out her pigtails. That was about all she could do without buying new clothes or cutting one of the sleeves off her t-shirt. It wasn’t perfect but at least she looked more like them now.   
  
This didn’t escape Rose’s notice. “What are you doing?” she asked softly.  
  
“Blending in,” Amelia muttered. Rose looked around in surprise and then shrugged.   
  
“You really don’t have to if you don’t want to. I never do unless I really want to or I have to so I won’t start a riot.”  
  
“People are lookin’ at me funny,” she mumbled.  
  
“And they’re lookin’ at me funny, too,” Rose replied matter-of-factly. “I’m just ignoring them. I’ve gotten so used to getting funny looks almost everywhere we go. They’ll get over it. Or they’ll take pictures of us and post them to Facebook and laugh at the funny people they saw in the zoo today. Or whatever passes as Facebook these days.”  
  
Amelia wrinkled her nose. “Facebook?”  
  
“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough.” Rose bent down to her level. “It doesn’t matter what they think about you. Don’t worry about it, alright?”  
  
She nodded. “Okay.”  
  
When they got to the front of the queue, the vendor asked Rose what she and her daughter would like. Amelia pressed her lips together, unsure of what to say. Rose seemed at a loss for a moment herself. Then she recovered and said, “We’ll have two chocolate cones.”   
  
They sat on a bench by a pond full of turtles at ate their ice creams. The Doctor as off somewhere getting them some drinks and it was just the two of them for a little while. For a few minutes, neither of them said anything, but Amelia couldn’t stop thinking about what the woman had said.  
  
“You’re not my mum,” Amelia blurted out.   
  
Rose froze mid-lick for half a second then went on. She nodded and swallowed the ice cream in her mouth. “I know. She didn’t mean anything by it.”  
  
“I just… you’re not Mum.”  
  
“I know,” Rose repeated. “Between you and me, even if I wanted to be a mum—and I’m not even sure I do—I know I’m not ready to be. Don’t think I’d make a good mother.”  
  
“You would.”  
  
Rose raised her eyebrows. “Y’think so?”  
  
“Better than my aunt.”   
  
The corner of Rose’s mouth pulled up into a half-smile. “Suppose that’s something. The Doctor’s usually better with kids than I am on account of him being a dad before.”  
  
Amelia sat up straighter. “He’s a Dad?”  
  
“Was,” Rose corrected. “Just forget I said that, okay? He doesn’t like to talk about it.”  
  
“Did they die?” she asked in a tiny voice.  
  
Rose sighed and said nothing. Amelia figured that meant yes.  
  
When the Doctor turned up with a tray of food for their lunch, Amelia couldn’t help but see him differently. She wondered if he missed his children and that was why she was allowed to stay longer.  
  
With this new knowledge it wasn’t much of a shock when he didn’t take her home that night. The three of them ate dinner together (some type of pot pie that was delicious) and afterwards they watched a movie in a room that looked like a cinema. The Doctor chose the sequel to _Toy Story_ , which wouldn’t even be released in Amelia’s time for another few years. Before pressing play, though, he made her promise to never tell anyone she’d seen it until after it was released.   
  
Amelia crossed over her heart, clasped her hands in front of her like she was pleading, then jabbed her fists into her chest, before jabbing her finger at her eye. The Doctor was perplexed.  
  
Luckily, Rose knew exactly what Amelia had meant. “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle through my eye.” Rose said as she did the same gesture.   
  
The Doctor blinked several times. “Oh. Blimey. Kids don’t fool around, do they?”  
  
“Nope!” Amelia chirped.   
  
“That’s about as close as you can get to a blood oath,” Rose added.   
They next day they didn’t go anywhere.  
  
“I’ve got to do some work on the TARDIS,” was all the Doctor offered as an explanation at breakfast before he was gone.  
  
Amelia and Rose sat there at the table for a moment then glanced at each other. “Looks like it’s just you and me. What do you want to do?”  
  
“What can we do?” Amelia asked.  
  
“Want to explore? I know you haven’t had much of a chance to look around an I don’t explore nearly as much as I used to.”   
  
“Sure!”   
  
The first place Rose led her to was a large cylindrical area that stretched up and down for as far as the eye could see. Amelia ran up to the railing and peered over, then upwards. Evenly spaced along the walls were railed walkways that circled the room with a small gap in between them in the same place. It looked like something was meant to pass through there. She could see doorways, some open and some closed, along the walls there as well. Thick pieces of coral branched out from the walls, twisting around each other and the walkways. Some pieces of coral only poked out a tiny bit. Others stretched out from one point and disappeared into the wall at another point nearby. It was like a jungle. As in the rest of the ship, light seemed to come from everywhere at once, as if the walls themselves were glowing.  
  
“What is this place?” Amelia asked.  
  
“Sort of like…remember the teleport hub on Hedgewick’s World? How you could get to all different places from there quickly?”  
  
“Uh huh.”  
  
“This is just like that. The Doctor says most TARDISes didn’t rearrange their rooms—and a lot of the later TARDIS models couldn’t except in emergencies—so when you needed to get to a room that was far away, coming through here was sometimes the quickest path. A journey that could otherwise take hours reduced to minutes.”  
  
Amelia whistled softly. “So what are we doing here, then?”  
  
“It’s also a good way to explore. Wish I’d have known about it back when I was new. We just pick a floor and go.”   
  
“But what if we get lost?”  
  
“We won’t,” Rose promised. “All the main corridors lead back here eventually.”   
  
“Ok. And how do we get to the floors?”   
  
Rose motioned for Amelia to follow and walked around the walkway. About halfway around, grating gave way to smooth metal. She looked up and realized they were directly beneath the gaps in the walkways above. Rose left Amelia standing in the center of the platform. Amelia heard a small clicking noise, like someone typing on a keyboard, and then the platform began to rise. Amelia yelped and fell on her bum.   
  
The lift stopped on the second floor up.  
  
“You alright?” Rose asked. Amelia twisted around. Rose was standing by a square console, head tilted to the side in mild concern.   
  
“Yeah, ‘m fine.”   
  
“You sure?”  
  
“Mmhmm. Yup.”  
  
“Alright. Come on over here and pick a floor.”   
  
Amelia pushed herself to her feet and scurried over to the console. There was no screen and the whole thing looked kinda old, like the console in the control room, except his one had no levers or switches. Just five rows of buttons, each of them labled with strange symbols she didn’t recognize.  
  
“Why can’t I read these?” She asked, pointing at the buttons.  
  
“They’re in Old High Gallifreyan—a language from the Doctor’s planet. The TARDIS doesn’t translate. But, lucky for you, I can read them.”  
  
Amelia’s eyes grew wide. She could read an alien language? “You can?”  
  
“The Doctor taught me how. Look, see—” she pointed to the lone button above all the others. “That means Base. The base level, were we just came from. If you ever end up lost, follow the corridors until you’re here, and press this button. It will take you to the main floor where we just came from. Everything we use on a daily basis is there. Alright?”   
  
“Alright.”  
  
“Now…pick a button. Any button.”   
  
Amelia peered carefully at the buttons then randomly pressed one near the middle. She expected to go up but instead the lift began descending. Past the main floor, on and on down, into the bowels of the strange ship. She glanced up at Rose. She seemed completely at ease.   
  
  
“Do you know where we’re going?”  
  
“Nope. Exciting, isn’t it? Who knows what’s down there?”  
  
“Could it be dangerous?”  
  
Rose shook her head. “The TARDIS won’t allow us to be hurt.”   
  
“O-okay.”   
  
The lift came to a stop a few seconds after. Amelia glanced around nervously. Only one of the doors on this level was open. She pointed at it. Rose nodded once and off they went.   
  
The walls were like the walls of any other corridor in the TARDIS but the floors on this level were made of the same grating as in the console room instead of soft carper or tiles. The first door they came to was made of wood and was entirely nondescript except for the stalking of coral that sprouted from the floor on one side and reached up and over, with smaller branches extending outward.   
  
Rose motioned for her to open it but Amelia shook her head. So Rose did the honors. The door opened to reveal a small library. Rose strode inside confidently. The light inside the room brightened as they entered but it remained a very muted orange. Around them were rows of shelves made of wood or stone, stacked with scrolls and tablets and books that were so old they weren’t even held together like any Amelia had ever seen.   
  
“This isn’t the main library,” Rose said as she looked around. “I’ve never even seen these before… These are old.”  
  
Amelia ran her fingers along the edges of scrolls on a shelf around her eye-level. The wood was smooth and polished, not old and rotted like they should be if they were so old. The next shelf over had square-ish tablets made of stone. The sides were smooth and cool to the touch.  
  
She looked at Rose. “What is this place?”  
  
“I…” Rose trailed off. “I don’t know. The TARDIS says it’s a museum but I don’t get what it’s a museum _of_. She showed me an old building on fire. The Doctor must have saved all of this from it.”  
  
Amelia whistled softly. “I wonder if these are from Earth.”  
  
“Beats me.”   
  
“Let’s keep going.”   
  
The next room was also a museum containing perfectly preserved bones beside fossils of the same creatures, all of them of Earth origin. The room after that was full of pressed flowers and leaves, one from every type of tree and flower in the world. They lingered in this room for a time, looking at the many array of flowers, some of which were long extinct by their times.   
  
“I think I picked the Earth Museum floor,” Amelia realized after they found a room with photos of every great pre-photography city. There were rows of pictures devoted to the progressions of several of them over time. There was even a photo of a place called _Atlantis_ and that made Rose laugh a lot.   
  
“I think you did,” Rose agreed.   
  
They spent the morning exploring the floor and the one directly above it (which turned out to be mostly sports courts and fields) before returning to the base floor for lunch, which turned into a cooking lesson that lasted for several hours. Rose taught her how to make the most delicious chocolate cake in the solar system and zucchini muffins. Every so often, Rose would make a face for no reason, roll her eyes, and one time she giggled quietly. Amelia hadn’t said anything and she didn’t think there was any flour on her face.   
  
“Why are you laughing?” Amelia asked. “What did I do?”  
  
“Nothing,” Rose assured her. “Sorry, the Doctor’s just being silly.”  
  
“Huh?” Amelia looked over her shoulder thinking perhaps the Doctor was making faces in the doorway but the Time Lord was nowhere to be found.   
  
“No, oh, no, sorry, he’s…um.” She set down the grater in her hand. “We’re talking to each other telepathically. In our heads,” she added at Amelia’s mystified look.   
  
“You can do that?”  
  
“Well, sometimes. His species are telepathic. Humans have the potential to be and due to…things, I can do it, too. I’m not anywhere his level, of course. It’s easiest when we’re close or touching.”  
  
Amelia thought back across the last few days. They certainly liked holding hands, that’s for sure, and they did both frequently. There had been times when they seemed to discuss something just by looking at each other, conversations completed in just a few looks.   
  
“So he’s being silly…in your head?”  
  
“He’s thinking silly thoughts at me,” she clarified.   
  
“And you’re sending thoughts back to him?”  
  
Rose nodded. “Mmhmm. “  
  
“Could I learn to do that?” Amelia asked and Rose shook her head immediately.  
  
“It’s not something you can just learn. You can either do it or you can’t.”  
  
“So why can you do it?”  
  
Rose inhaled slowly through her nose and let it out in a long, steady stream the same way. “Because I unleashed something once to save the Doctor and it—it was more powerful than I expected. It never really left me.”   
  
For a brief second, there was _something_ in Rose’s eyes, something old and scary, wild and dangerous. It made her seem far older than she looked, the way the Doctor had once. Amelia swallowed and felt herself shifting away from the woman she’d come to trust dearly. For a second, she was Little Red looking into the eyes of the Big Bad Wolf with nowhere to run.   
  
Then the woman blinked and that _something_ was gone. She was just Rose, a cheerful woman about her teacher’s age who was teaching her how to make muffins out of a vegetable that was disgusting on its own.  
  
Rose shook her head. “And that’s not something you can—or should—ever do.” Rose picked up the grater and resumed grating the zucchini into a bowl. “Besides, you’ve got your own little trick.”  
  
“I do?”  
  
“The TARDIS’s perception filter. I’ve never met anyone who could see through it without help and that filter has been put to the test more than you can imagine.”   
  
Amelia shrugged. “I’ve always been able to see them.”  
  
Rose raised her eyebrows. “You sound sure about that.”  
  
 _Whoops._ Amelia shrugged. Rose eyed her shrewdly. “Well, I can’t do it. You’re special.”  
  
Amelia brightened. “I am?”  
  
“Of course!”  
  
Amelia grinned shyly. It’d been a long time since anyone had told her that.  
  
And, as it turned out, the zucchini muffins were delicious.   
  
She stayed the night on the TARDIS once again and that night, for the first time, the Doctor joined them at bedtime. He apologized for being busy most of the day and offered her a bedtime story. She hadn’t had one since that first night. Amelia was old enough that she most certainly did not need a bedtime story, thank you very much, but that didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy them. He told her a fairytale from his homeworld: Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday. (Not to be confused with the Snow White with the dwarves.)   
  
The next day they went to a water park. Not an alien water park, either, just an ordinary Earth water park. (Amelia suspected it was well beyond her time, though she wasn’t quite sure.) It was here that Amelia discovered the Doctor looked hilarious with his hair flattened by water and could lay on the bottom of the pool with ease and hold his breath long enough to cause both lifeguards in the vicinity to panic. Amelia also learned that she loved water slides. Very much.   
  
She mentioned to Rose that it would be fun to do something in the snow and the day after the waterpark the Doctor told them to dress warm. In the wardrobe, Amelia chose a snug red coat and a set of red mittens with white snowflakes with matching scarf. She found a pair of black earmuffs as well that fit snugly over his ears. Rose found a pretty pink coat for herself, a pair of black gloves, and a white pompom hat. The Doctor stuck to his usual brown suit and long coat, though he was smart enough to wear some snow boots and gloves.  
  
They spent the day in Central Park, sometime in the late 1980s, where some of the hairstyles were weird enough to make her laugh out loud. The Doctor pulled her through the park on a wooden sled the same shade of blue as the TARDIS. They went sledding on a hill where at least two-dozen other people were doing the same. Afterwards, they got hot chocolate to warm up on their way to the ice rink. Rose couldn’t ice skate, nor did she want to learn how, so she sat with the sled while the Doctor took Amelia out on the ice to teach her.  
  
“Come on, Little Red,” he said. “We’ll make an ice skater out of you, don’t you worry. And if you want, we can practice in the TARDIS.”  
  
“You have an ice rink!?”  
  
“You betchya.”  
  
It was different experience being so close to her time for once. Everyone around her was still alive in her time. The kids her age here were only teenagers back home. No one here had any dangerous knowledge of the future that could “have drastic consequences on the timeline” if she asked too many questions. She was the future kid now. Not that they’d believe her.  
  
After that, they returned the sled to the TARDIS and ventured out into the city, which was decorated for Christmas. She hadn’t realized up until then that they were in December. They ate lunch at a small restaurant and spent a while in there warming up. Afterwards they went to a nearby toy store where the Doctor managed to procure enough American dollars from the depths of his pockets to buy her a red-haired Cabbage Patch doll. The lady behind the counter asked which side of her family the red hair came from.   
  
“Both me parents had brown hair,” Amelia answered before either of them could lie. Besides, it would be obvious the moment she opened her mouth that they weren’t from the same country. All the kids in the park had been able to tell she was from abroad. “Got the red hair from Gran, or so Mum used to say.”  
  
“Oh,” the woman said, glancing at the two adults standing on either side of Amelia.  
  
“We adopted her,” Rose said simply.  
  
 _Yeah,_ Amelia realized. _They have._  
  
Rose overheard as they were walking along the sidewalk that a tree was being lit tonight at someplace called “Rockefeller Center” and from the excitement in her voice, Amelia decided it must be some big event in America. So she asked if they could stick around for it. She was perfectly capable of handling the cold.   
  
They spent their evening in the crowds of people gathering in the outdoor plaza. Live bands played music and people laughed and cheered. The Doctor managed to find them a ledge to sit on with a good view of the tree and Rose procured three hot chocolates from a nearby vendor. When the sky was dark (as dark as it could be in New York City), the lights on the tree blazed to life and people screamed their approval. Amelia cheered along with them.   
  
The Doctor carried her piggyback back to the TARDIS and Rose had her arm looped around his. The two of them talked about a place Women Wept that was completely frozen. Rose said she’d like to go back one day and the Doctor said okay. A planet a million billion miles from Earth and they could just pop in for a visit whenever.   
  
It was right around then that Amelia realized she was happy with them. Nearly a week after saying one trip, there was no indication that the Doctor was planning on sending her home. She was…really okay with that. 

* * *


	5. Friends - Amelia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW I AM TERRIBLE. THIS IS SO LATE. SO SO SOOO LATE OH GOD.
> 
> But here it is...the conclusion to Amelia's arc.

  
In the end, Amelia stayed about fourteen days, thirteen more than she was supposed to. She never once asked to go home. Why would she? She’d loved every minute of it and it wasn’t like she missed her aunt. It was a bit weird not seeing Rory for so long but he probably wouldn’t like the TARDIS like she did. He wasn’t brave enough.   
  
She would’ve stayed forever, for the rest of her life, if they had let her.   
  
But then the Doctor took them to a ball. She’d always wanted to go to a ball. At Rose’s request, the TARDIS laid out outfits for them to choose from that would suit the times and culture where they were going. This was very important because wearing the wrong thing would make it obvious they did not belong. Blending in was key in high society–at least, that’s what Rose told her, Amelia didn’t personally see the point. So she wore red, Rose wore gold, and the Doctor wore black. The three were complimentary colors, according to him, and such was the custom for families at fancy events in this time.   
  
It wasn’t like a royal ball from a fairytale but it sure was something. It was held at a grand building called the Isogen, where apparently many high-class functions were held. The Doctor got them in by flashing his psychic paper and tonight they were a duke, duchess, and their daughter. Amelia didn’t see many kids her age there and those she did eyed her a bit speculatively and spoke in very posh tones that she couldn’t emulate, which only served to make the older children frown at her and their younger relatives took their cues from them.   
  
She ended up making friends with a serving boy that looked entirely human except for pale blue skin and his deep purple hair and looked about three or four years older than her, but if she’d learned anything these last few weeks, it was that you couldn’t judge someone’s age by how they looked. He said his name was Lichie and he called her Lady Amelia. He wore a purple uniform, the same colors as in all the party decorations and napkins, which he explained was to help him blend in to the background.   
  
When a senior staff member came to scold him for shirking his duties, Amelia immediately jumped to his defense and informed the older man quite loudly that he was being extremely rude and that it was not Lichie’s fault. Nobility or not, she was here under the guise of a Lady and, as such, he was in no place to rebuke her–or so she hoped as she informed of her status haughtily. Then she told him he wasn’t to punish her new friend in any way or she would see the same done to him.   
  
Lichie clapped the moment his boss was out of earshot. “Ooooh, I’ve been waiting _ages_ for someone to tell him off. Thinks he’s all high an’ mighty ‘cos he isn’t bound to service like most of us.”   
  
“He was being a poopy head,” she said blithely.   
  
Lichie’s eyes went round and he laughed again. “You’re strange, m’lady.”  
  
She glanced around then admitted in a hushed giggle that she was no sort of noble at all, just an ordinary kid who had friends in high places. They hadn’t even been invited at all! He grinned like a loon and laughed once more.   
  
She made a comment about his blue skin being unusual and he told her on his home world, everyone was blue, which made her think of that one funny song she’d found in the 1990s section of the music room a few days ago. She told him it was an Earth Classic. She was singing the chorus (“I’m blue, da ba dee, da ba die!”) and he was trying to stifle his laughter when Rose found them.   
  
“Y’know, when they made that song, I don’t think they knew there were actual blue people,” Rose commented as she approached.  
  
His giggles ceased and he immediately bowed to her.   
  
“No, don’t bother with that,” Amelia told him, nudging him back upright. “She’s one my friends.”  
  
“Oh. I still need to show respect,” he replied, clasping his hands behind his back.   
  
“Don’t worry, I won’t keep you.” Rose assured Lichie. “I just came to see where you’d wandered off to, Amelia. Are you having a good time?”  
  
She nodded enthusiastically. “This is Lichie. He works here…uh, if you couldn’t tell.”  
  
“I could. I hope you’re not getting into trouble, Lichie.”  
  
“Well…”  
  
“His boss came over but I told him off,” Amelia said smugly.  
  
Rose’s expression tightened. “Oh, no. You might’ve cost him his job…”  
  
Lichie shook his head. “No worries, m’lady. I’m indentured. Don’t think they’d let me off that easy.”   
  
Amelia didn’t know what that meant but Rose clearly did. She pressed her lips together briefly. “I see. Well…um you two have fun, okay? The Doctor and I will come find you when it’s time to go.”  
  
“Okay,” Amelia said. She watched Rose weave through the crowd then turned to Lichie. “So, I bet you know around this place.”  
  
“We do events here sometimes but I never have the chance to explore.”  
  
She grinned and less than two minutes later they were making their grand escape out the back door. Outside of the designated party area, the building was just as grand. Lichie told her there could be up to five sizeable parties going at once, though that would never happen because no one of breeding would _dare_ allow five events to occur on the same night. It was unthinkable. And the staff would be so overworked.   
  
They must’ve spent an hour exploring the place. They went down every hall, opened every door that was unlocked, and even discovered a servants access tunnel that lead them back to the kitchens were Lichie had been working. They high tailed it right back out of there before anyone spotted them. Out of everything she’d done so far, this was the best in its own way. Just her and another kid having fun, even if that kid was another species and wouldn’t be born until hundreds and hundreds of years in her future. She wondered if this was surreal for him, running through a fancy place he had only been in to work with a girl dressed like a noble but just as lowborn as he.   
  
But Amelia knew she’d probably been gone long enough for Rose and the Doctor to worry. It was probably time for them to be heading back. She told him that and he agreed with a sigh. He really did need to get back to work soon or it’d be his mother after him.   
  
They were en route for the ballroom when she and Lichie suddenly heard sounds from ahead. Screams of fear, even louder screams of anger, and whirring noises that made Lichie go rigid with fear.   
  
“Oh, Kessar!” he yelped, eyes wide with panic. “Gun! Guns!”   
  
“Those don’t sound like guns!”  
  
He spun around, grabbing Amelia’s hand, and bolted. She stumbled over her skirts and used her free hand to hitch them up as they ran. “Where are we going?”  
  
“We have to hide!”   
  
“B-but the Doctor and Rose are in there! I can’t leave them!”  
  
Lichie slowed, casting a fearful look over his shoulder. He glanced between her and the direction of the ballroom then stamped his foot. He let out a long whine that sounded suspiciously like a dog’s and Amelia cocked her head to the side, momentarily bemused despite the seriousness of their situation. “Fine. Okay. Um. You hide. I’ll go back for them.”  
  
Wait? What?! “N-no way! I’m not staying behind!” she protested. “Besides, you could get hurt.”  
  
He shook his head. “Maybe not. Why would someone attack a party? For the people attending, obviously. You’re dressed like a guest so if someone bad sees you, they’ll probably grab you. They’re not gonna care about me.”  
  
He had a point but that didn’t mean she was gonna go hide while he ran into danger. “You got any more of those clothes you’re wearing lying around?”  
  
Lichie’s mouth opened in surprise. “Yeah, just in case we spill something or–”  
  
“I think yours would fit me.”  
  
Lichie let out an exasperated sound and smacked his forehead with his hand. Then his eyes flew open. “Wait!” he hissed. “We can get help!”  
  
Amelia nearly smacked herself in the face. Oh, duh! Whoever had the guns probably thought they had everyone rounded up in there since there were no other events tonight. No way they’d have expected two kids to have been missed…assuming, of course, their respective adults didn’t raise a fuss about them being missing.   
  
“But how do we get out of here?” Amelia fretted. “The front door probably will be blocked.”  
  
“There’s a servants entrance!” Lichie grabbed her hand again and they sprinted off. Amelia stumbled a bit then used her free hand to hitch up the front of her skirt so she wouldn’t trip.   
  
He lead her to a very beautiful, grand set of doors that she remembered from earlier. They through the door into a fancy room three times smaller than the one the ball was happening in. It was empty except for stacks of chairs and tables in the back. Lichie shut the door behind them and ran across the room to the other wall and pressed a small button she hadn’t noticed until then. A line appeared in the wall then expanded as a hidden door slid open. They ran through it and into staff corridors like the ones they had found earlier. The walls were simple and the floors inelegant and nothing like the rest of the building. Doors leading off to other ballrooms and storage cupboards and kitchens were spaced periodically throughout the corridors.   
  
“But who can we go to?” she panted as they ran.  
  
“The police, of course.” Lichie replied like she was stupid. “Don’t they got police where you’re from?”  
  
“Yes!” she retorted. “I didn’t know if you did! How far?”  
  
“Not too far, I think.”   
  
They barreled out of a door labeled ‘EXIT’ and it hit the wall with a resounding BANG that made them both flinch. Lucky for them there was no one around to hear it. They were in a dimly lit alley with smooth white cobblestones under their feet. Amelia whipped her head back and forth, expecting masked villains to descend any second. Lichie hissed her name, beckoning to her with his hand, and they raced out of the alley.   
  
She’d only glimpsed a little of the city on their way in but, looking around now, she kinda thought it looked like Rome when they’d visited it the other day. Towering columns, shining buildings, elegant statues everywhere. Any other time she would’ve been in awe. Right now she was so scared the buildings might as well have been made of cardboard.  
  
The moment people came into sight about a block away, Amelia let out a hair-raising scream to get their attention. If there was one thing she knew got grownups attention that was it. Then Lichie did the same. Briefly, she thought it was funny the way his shrieks seemed to carry a hiss with them, like a snake.   
  
“HELP!” she screamed and he echoed her. “HELP! HELP US!”   
  
People immediately took notice. Two kids screaming for their lives tended to have that effect on people. By the time they reached the people, quite a crowd had stopped to see what the commotion was. A number of them seemed to be on the offensive, looking intently over the children’s heads for any sign of danger. A few of the adults broke off from the crowd then there were hands on Amelia’s arms and back, ushering her around, bodies placed protectively between them and the direction from which they’d come.   
  
Concerned voices overlapped, each demanding to know what had happened, were they hurt, what were they running from? Amelia didn’t quite know how to explain. “There’s…bad people!” She gasped, thoroughly winded from running so hard. “M-my f–my mum and dad–”  
  
“In the Isogen,” Lichie elaborated shakily. “W-we heard guns and screaming!”  
  
“People are probably dead!”   
  
“You gotta get the police, the king!”  
  
Chaos ensued after that. There was a lot of shouting and yelling and people running away in all directions, some away from the danger and others towards it. Amelia clung to Lichie’s arm and refused to let go as the strange adults herded the two of them into a nearby building. Some sort of lobby, from what she could tell. They were ushered over to a sitting area with thick brown furniture and they sat down on a couch together. The adrenaline that had been coursing through her body was finally beginning to fade, leaving her feeling light, hollow, and trembling. She thought Lichie might’ve been shaking too but it was difficult to say.  
  
A blue woman with evergreen hair in a business suit with a nametag that read Syss asked their names. Lichie glanced at Amelia expectantly and she wondered if there was some rule that meant she was supposed to tell them that. But couldn’t quite get her voice to work properly and all that came out was a tiny whimper.  
  
Lichie sat up straighter. “I’m Lichie, indebted to the Nosthi. This is Lady Amelia of Leadworth. S-she was one of the guests at the party.”  
  
The woman looked between them oddly. “The police are on their way. I’m sure some of them are going to want to talk to you.”  
  
“What about the Isogen?” Lichie asked.  
  
“I don’t know.” Syss frowned out the window. “Most of the nobility from in the quadrant are in there tonight, aren’t they?”  
  
Lichie nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”   
  
They were each offered a warm drink. Lichie accepted his but Amelia shook her head at it. She was too worried to even think about drinking. The Doctor and Rose were somewhere back there with no idea what happened to her. Were they worried? Were they looking for her? Would…they leave without her?  
  
Amelia cast her eyes around the room. Aliens. Nothing but aliens. No one’s skin was the same tone as hers, the one head of red hair she saw was like the red of her dress or an apple, not like the gingery red of her own hair. There wasn’t a human in sight and probably not for miles, except for Rose. There probably weren’t any on this planet at all. No one spoke English, she was sure of it. If the translator thingy in the TARDIS suddenly stopped working she’d be completely lost in alone.  
  
She was _scared._  
  
Suddenly, and for the first time ever…. “I want to go home,” she whispered.   
  
Lichie looked at her. “Huh?”  
  
“I want to go home,” she repeated, drawing her knees up to her chest. Her lip quivered and she felt tears begin to well in her eyes. “I want to go home right now.”   
  
When the police arrived, Syss introduced them as Giov and Kinok and then the officers knelt in front of them and asked all sorts of questions: their names, parents’ names, and Lichie’s masters’ names, what they’d seen and heard, and so on. Lichie did most of the talking.   
  
“Why did they do it?” Amelia asked. “How comes those people want to hurt everyone at the party?”  
  
“They’re terrorists,” the officer on the left, Kinok, a man who could probably pass as human if not for his red eyes, answered honestly. “And they think hurting people like your parents will get them what they want.”  
  
“That’s stupid.”   
  
He nodded. “I agree. But don’t worry. Everything will turn out okay. Now, I’ll tell you what, why don’t you come with us back to the station where you’ll be safe.”  
  
“I’ve got a tag on me.” Lichie said. Amelia’s brow furrowed in confusion and he elaborated. “There’s this thing that keeps me from going too far away from where I’m supposed to be. I can’t go much further from where we were or…” He trailed off into silence and made a face.  
  
She balked. “B-but that’s horrible! Why would anyone do that?”  
  
“To make sure he doesn’t run away,” Giov, a blue man, replied. “He owes a debt and it must be paid.”  
  
“But that’s stupid! What if something happens like this and he needs to run far away so he’ll be safe? It’s rubbish, that’s what,” she seethed. “I’m not goin’ if he can’t go.”  
  
“You should. It’ll be safer, probably,” Lichie whispered.  
  
“I’m not leaving you behind, dummy,” she snapped. “Either you find a way to get him there safely or I’m not movin’ an inch.” And she folded her arms to emphasize her point.   
  
The officers looked at each other and she could tell they were annoyed but that only made her angrier. She had half a mind to take Lichie with her when they left just to get him away from all this nonsense. But he’d probably miss his mum lots and he wouldn’t exactly fit in on Earth. Still, she could ask. Maybe they could take him and his mum somewhere else, somewhere better where they didn’t have to be…like this.   
  
“We might as well just stay,” the blue one said. “This will probably all be over before we could even get a deactivation clearance.”   
  
“Yeah,” the other agreed gruffly. He frowned at Amelia and Lichie for a moment. “But we’re staying with you and you two are not to leave this couch without our permission. Understood?”  
  
Both children nodded.   
  
“Good. Giov, see if you can’t get us some java. I gotta feeling this is gonna be a long night.”   
  
Giov went off to do just that and Kinok decided to drag one of the other chairs in the room closer to the couch. When he was out of earshot, Lichie leaned close to Amelia’s ear. “You’re either really brave or stupid.”  
  
“You’re my friend,” she whispered back. “And I’m scared. So I think it’s both.”  
  
He laughed and scooted closer, his arm pressing against hers. Aside from him grabbing her hand, that was the first time he’d touched her. Human children were always touching each other, pats on the back, pokes, hugs, or any number of things, but Lichie had kept a respectful distance from her until right now. It was weird. Maybe because she said they were friends?  
  
“Thanks for taking me exploring,” he said. “If you hadn’t, I’d probably be…in there. Y’know.”   
  
“Me too,” she agreed. “I dunno which is worse, though.”  
  
Giov returned with two steaming cups and handed one to Kinok then sat down on the other end of the couch. The two grownups talked quietly to each other and Amelia tried her best to tune them out, her mind wandering back to that ballroom. The bodies on the floor. The gunshots. The Doctor and Rose’s worried expressions. Then Rory’s worried face from weeks back when she’d scuffed her knee on the sidewalk. He’d probably be crying right now if he were here.   
  
“You really don’t know much about how this whole…thing works, do you?” Lichie murmured.   
  
“What thing?” she whispered back.  
  
“The…servants,” he elaborated. “My tag.”  
  
She shook her head. “You said something about ‘indentured’ earlier. I don’t know what it means.”  
  
“My parents are in debt to the Nosthi and since I’m their son, when they became servants, I either had to go live in a home for orphans, or I could serve with them and work off their debt. We’re not prisoners. We’re working to pay back what we owe. The tags are because not everyone is willing to work off their debts and some try to run off. They got no way to tell who’s honest and who isn’t so we all get tagged. And it’s not forever. As soon as we’re all paid up we can go back to our lives as normal. It’s not so bad, really, honest.”   
  
“I don’t like it.”   
  
“Me neither. But what can you do?” He shrugged. “That’s the way things are.”   
  
“Not where I come from,” she grumbled, then sighed. “Don’t suppose it’ll matter for much longer. As soon as the Doctor and Rose find me, we’re never coming back.”  
  
His eyes widened. “B-but…you…I mean, we won’t be friends anymore then?”  
  
She sighed again. “I mean, we can be friends, but I’m from a long time ago.”  
  
Lichie shook his head and scrunched up his nose. “What?”  
  
Amelia glanced at the alien police officers. They seemed completely caught up in their own conversation and not paying any mind to the whispers of the children. Now she just had to think of how to explain this to Lichie. Would he understand what a time machine even was? Would he think she was lying? She decided not to chance it. Why even bother? She’d never see him again, anyway.   
  
The night seemed to stretch on endlessly. They received no further word on what was happening at the Isogen and their guards largely ignored them. After what felt like hours, Amelia started yawning. Beside her, Lichie did the same and it sounded a lot like a snake hiss. If circumstances were different she might have laughed. The officers asked if they were getting tired and if they’d like blankets, which both children adamantly refused. They weren’t sleeping until they had their parents back.  
  
Apparently that didn’t quite go as planned because at one point, after a hazy period of darkness and flashes of color and sound, Amelia realized she was slumped sideways and her head was resting on Lichie’s shoulder and a blanket draped over them. She heard his quiet, steady breathing near her ear. With an inward shrug, she shut her eyes and let the weird dreamless state pull her back under. She remained there for a long time.   
  
The next time she opened her eyes she found two pairs of brown human ones staring back at her. She stared at them and the faces they belonged to for a few moments, trying to place them, the background, and what she was laying on. The Doctor and Rose she identified immediately but the rest was slow in coming.   
  
“Hi,” she mumbled sleepily.   
  
“Hi,” they repeated quietly and the Doctor nodded to someone next to her. “Who’s your friend?”  
  
Amelia’s brow furrowed in confusion and she realized someone was breathing near her ear. She turned her head slightly and saw blue skin and purple hair. …Lichie!  
  
She gasped as the memories from the night before asserted themselves and she sat up, the blanket falling from her shoulders, which unfortunately sent Lichie plummeting forward and his face smashed into the space between her back and the couch. He inhaled sharply and let out a startled, but decidedly groggy yelp.   
  
“You’re okay!” she wailed to her surrogate parents and launched herself at them, throwing her arms around their necks. They both wobbled a bit and the Doctor placed a hand on her back to steady her before they both put an arm around her. She hugged them tightly, relieved that they were safe and had found her. Then she noticed a woman with blue skin and purple hair in the remnants of what must have been a firm bun, wearing a larger version of the Lichie wore, standing just behind them. Lichie saw her, too.   
  
“Mummy!” he cried, scrambling off the couch and into the arms of his mother. Amelia’s heart clenched and at that moment, despite her relief at the Doctor and Rose being there and okay, she very much wanted her own mum.   
  
“Where were you?” Rose demanded. “We were lookin’ everywhere for you. We thought–”  
  
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she apologized over and over, her lip quivering, tears welling in her eyes. “We were just exploring, s’all. Then we heard the…and we ran…and…”  
  
“It’s alright. We’re glad you got away.” The Doctor released her and eased her away from them and Amelia allowed herself to be pushed. “You ready to go back now?”  
  
Amelia nodded, sniffled. What did he mean by back, though? To the TARDIS or home? She wasn’t sure which she wanted at that moment. She knew she wanted her Mum, but the Doctor had told her that was something he couldn’t give her and Rose had agreed with a sadness Amelia couldn’t understand in her eyes.   
  
“Amelia?” Lichie asked from a few feet away. His upper body was twisted around in his mother’s grip and he was staring at her. “Are you leaving now?”  
  
Amelia sniffed and wiped her eye with the back of her hand then nodded. He nodded, too, resigned. “Are you ever gonna let her come back?” he asked the adults with her. “She’s my friend.”  
  
“Lichie,” his mother reprimanded under her breath.   
  
“It’s perfectly fine,” Rose reassured the woman. “But…probably not.”  
  
“But…” he started to protest but his mother cut him off with a sharp hiss.   
  
Lichie let out a sad sigh and nodded. Something in his posture changed, then. He ducked his head, straightening his shoulders, and he looked like he had when Amelia had first met him: he a kid serving at a party and she one of the esteemed guests. She wanted to hug him goodbye but something told her that it wouldn’t help or even be a good thing. His mother was watching the three of them warily, as if she expected something bad to happen. Amelia remembered what Lichie had said about the conditions of being a servant and guessed that a rich person from their world might have done something bad to him for talking back.  
  
But Rose, wonderful motherly Rose, noticed the change as well and decided things wouldn’t end on that note. “We shouldn’t,” Rose clarified. “It’s not safe for us here–especially Amelia. Not after last night.”  
  
“Those people that attacked had a vendetta against off-worlders in particular,” the Doctor continued, kneeling down to Lichie’s level. “And, well, obviously, that includes us.”  
  
“Yes, sir, she told me you were from somewhere else.” Lichie said.   
  
“But those people weren’t alone in their thinking.” He glanced up at Lichie’s mother. “Your mother can explain it to you, if she wants. At the very least, we should stay away until these sentiments have passed. You don’t want to put Amelia at risk just for a bit of fun, do you?”  
  
Lichie shook his head. “No, sir. I understand.”   
  
The Doctor smiled. “But, I am to understand that we owe you a debt of gratitude. The men we spoke to informed us that you helped keep her out of harms way and that it was your idea to alert the authorities.”  
  
“I–” Lichie glanced in Amelia’s direction and she simply lifted her eyebrows and nodded encouragingly. He turned his gaze back to the Doctor and cleared his throat. “I did. Yes.”  
  
“Lichie, right? Well, then, Lichie, you’re the hero of the hour, believe it or not. Everyone who walked away from this ordeal owes you their lives. But it’s not my place to thank you for everyone else, so I’ll just thank you for the life of my wife and Amelia.”  
  
“I–I–” Lichie stammered, utterly taken aback by the sudden turn of events. Clearly the thought of being a hero hadn’t crossed his mind all night and neither had it crossed Amelia’s. The two of them glanced at each other and she grinned, giving him a big thumbs up.  
  
_Let’s see them treat you badly after this,_ Amelia thought triumphantly.   
  
Lichie looked up at his mother who, like her son, seemed utterly flabbergasted. The Doctor rose to his feet and smiled warmly at her. “I take it you haven’t heard? I suspect you will soon enough…but the authorities are hailing your son as a hero. The brave lad who risked his life to protect a noble girl and raised the alarm.”   
  
“B-but I…” Lichie shook his head slowly. “I didn’t…I mean I wasn’t trying to be a hero.”  
  
“That makes all the difference, you know.” The Doctor told him seriously. “A true hero is one who acts to protect others and not bolster his own reputation.”  
  
Amelia hopped off the couch. Under normal circumstances she would be pretty mad she wasn’t getting any credit for saving the day but there wasn’t a point this time. She didn’t live here and Lichie would probably be better off getting all the credit. Maybe he wouldn’t have to be a servant anymore, either! It was that thought that kept her happy as she said goodbye to him (though she was sad it was probably forever) and they made their way back to the TARDIS.  
  
The closer they got to their destination, however, the more her delight began to wane. What would happen now? Nothing like this had ever happened on any of their trips. Was she going to be in trouble? Were they going to take her home? …Did she want to go home? The last few weeks had been amazing, a fairytale befitting the girl with a fairytale name, and she hadn’t ever wanted it to end. But the story had gotten dark in a way she hadn’t expected and she wasn’t sure she wanted to be a part of it any longer.  
  
The Doctor unlocked the door to the TARDIS then ushered Amelia and Rose inside, shutting the door behind him. He strode over to the console wordlessly and began to hit the series of controls that would make them disappear. Rose leaned against the console and Amelia hovered nervously near the jumpseat, fingers clenching and unclenching around the edge of the seat. The ship shuddered once and Amelia knew they’d left behind Lichie’s planet and were in the…that place where they could move through time. The Vortex, or something like that.  
  
The Doctor sighed loudly and turned around. Rose stood and went to stand at the Doctor’s shoulder, both of them watching her with unreadable expressions. She looked between them for a moment before ducking her head and beginning to fidget nervously. They were having one of those conversations in their heads again, she just knew it, and there was no way it was good.   
  
“Amelia Pond,” the Doctor began and then sighed heavily. “Little Red.”   
  
Amelia glanced up. The Doctor sighed again then held out his hand. She hesitated, glancing between his hand and his face, before warily accepting it. The Doctor lead her out of the console room and down the halls, taking the familiar route towards their rooms. Rose followed just a few paces behind. No one spoke. Instead of going to their rooms, they stopped at the kitchen instead.   
  
“Am I in trouble?” Amelia asked as he released her hand and walked towards the cabinets.  
  
“If we were your parents, definitely,” Rose answered as she passed. The blonde woman took her usual seat at the table and patted the spot where Amelia sat with her hand. Amelia slowly crossed the room and sat down in the chair, trying to make as little noise as possible, sure in her gut that too much noise would be the trigger that started the yelling.   
  
The Doctor was pulling cartons of milk from the fridge, chocolate and banana, and began to pour them each a glass.   
  
“But we’re just as much to blame as you are,” Rose went on. “We should’ve kept a better eye on you. But we really can’t get mad at you for wanting to explore–we’ve done exactly what you did countless times.”   
  
The Doctor hummed an affirmative as he set a glass of chocolate milk in front of Amelia, which she took a drink from immediately, only just becoming aware of how hungry and thirsty she was. He set the other glass in front of Rose then went back for his own before finally taking his seat at the table.   
  
Rose held the glass between her hands but didn’t take a drink. “And it was a very good thing you did, getting out like that. Hiding might have only made things worse. But…”  
  
“But?” Amelia repeated after a moment.  
  
Rose looked at the Doctor for a moment and made a face. “But we’re upset you had to be in that position to begin with. We’re angry at you for leaving without telling us, we’re angry at those people for what they did, but mostly we’re angry at ourselves. Because we knew this could happen. We tried so _very_ hard to make sure nothing like that happened but, of course, it was bound to happen eventually.”   
  
“Last night, what happened at the party, is…well… I don’t want to say normal, ‘cos it’s not, but stuff like that happens a lot and more often than not we get caught up in it.” Rose finally took a drink of her milk.   
  
Amelia’s own drink suddenly seemed very unappetizing as the butterflies in her stomach overtook the hunger pains.   
  
“Our life isn’t a fairytale, Little Red.” The Doctor explained quietly, but firmly. “It can be fun sometimes but other times it’s dangerous. Very dangerous. …Far too dangerous for a child.”  
  
She took a deep breath and exhaled softly. “I’m going home, aren’t I?”  
  
The Doctor and Rose nodded. “It’s for the best, we think,” the latter confirmed.  
  
Amelia nodded.   
  
“It’s not that you did anything wrong,” the Doctor assured her. “We don’t want anything bad to happen to you and we agree it’s time to quit while we’re ahead. Who’s to say the next time we get into a bind you’ll be able to make it out unhurt?”   
  
She nodded again. She understood, she really did. Honestly, after last night she could do with a bit of normalcy. She missed being surrounded by her own kind and by people who could speak her language. She missed Rory, her aunt, and even boring Leadworth. But, even still, the thought of leaving this magical box and its inhabitants was a bit much.   
  
“It was only supposed to be one trip to begin with, remember? We’ve been meaning to take you back for days now, but you were having so much fun, and we’ve enjoyed having you around.” He smiled at her. “You’re a wonderful little girl, Amelia.”  
  
She beamed at the praise but sobered almost immediately. “Will you come and visit me?”  
  
“Ah, that’s…probably not such a good idea,” the Doctor said quickly. “We don’t regularly make stops at Leadworth, or the 1990s, for that matter. And how would we explain ourselves to your friends and family?”   
  
“You mean we can’t just tell them the truth?”   
  
The adults glanced at each other quickly and Rose cleared her throat, taking a drink. “Yeaaahhh,” the Doctor drawled. “Best not.”  
  
“So…I won’t ever see you again?” Tears began to well in Amelia’s eyes.   
  
“Now, we didn’t say that,” Rose interjected quickly. “I’m sure we will. It just…probably won’t be for a while. But when you’re older, definitely.”  
  
“And, I tell you what.” The Doctor leaned forward with a smile on his face. “When you’re all grown up and finished with school, if you still want to come with us, then you can. You can spend years and years with us if you want but until then, even if you see us, you can’t come with us. Does that sound fair?”  
  
Amelia thought about it. Growing up was going to take a long time. She still had years and years of school left, and even more if she sat her A-levels and went to university. She wasn’t sure she wanted to wait that long. But what other choice did she have? They’d made it quite clear she couldn’t stay now and that being a kid wasn’t safe with them. The promise of years and years travelling _was_ appealing. “Promise?”   
  
“Cross my hearts and hope to die,” the Doctor swore, making an ‘X’ on each side of his chest.  
  
Amelia cracked a smile. “Stick a needle through your eye?”  
  
“Oh, definitely.”   
  
They decided to feed her breakfast before taking her home. It had been in the middle of the night when they’d picked her up and nothing was worse than going to bed hungry. Not that she was sure she’d be able to sleep when she got home but if she was going to have to sit up in her room all night until her aunt woke up then she definitely didn’t want to do it hungry. Her last meal on the TARDIS was hotcakes and oatmeal with some delicious fruit juice from another planet to wash it all down. The Doctor and Rose tried to keep the mood light but what was coming weighed heavily on Amelia and she couldn’t quite have a good time.   
  
Much to her displeasure, Amelia wasn’t allowed to take anything with her. Not any of the clothes or toys or art supplies she’d been given. How would she be able to explain them, the Doctor pointed out, since no time will have passed when she got home? She would leave exactly as she came. She had to change back into the clothes she’d come aboard in, from her nighty to her socks.   
  
She was going back to the night of her birthday, two weeks older. Wow, that meant from now on, her birthday was actually two weeks before it was actually celebrated! That was going to be funny to think about when it came time. She wondered if Rory would believe her if she told him. Her aunt definitely wouldn’t.  
  
When the three of them gathered in the console room again to take her home, Rose had on a t-shirt and track pants, the latter of which she took to mean they wouldn’t be going anywhere after this today except probably to sleep. She wondered if they’d gotten any last night at all.   
  
Of course, Amelia couldn’t help but cry. She wanted to go home but at the same time she didn’t want to leave, knowing it would be years and years before she could come back. It wasn’t fair. She wanted _both_. Home and the Doctor and Rose. Who cares if people think it’s weird?   
  
“Please will you visit?” she pleaded. “I don’t wanna say goodbye.”  
  
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Rose asked her. “You know part of you is always going to be expecting us to show up at any time. I don’t want you to waste your life waiting for us. …I know what it can do to a person.” she said honestly.   
  
Amelia sniffled.  
  
“She’s right,” the Doctor agreed as he messed with the keyboard on the console. “I have a friend named Sarah who used to travel with me. I had to leave her behind when we were both much younger. A few years ago, quite by accident, we met again. She’d been waiting for me to come back all that time.” He sounded pained. He took a step away from the console and turned around, kneeling down to her eye level. Who knows all the things she gave up because she was always expecting me to come back for her? I don’t want you to do that, too. You’re young. You’ve got so much ahead of you between now and being a grown up. I want you to do everything you want to do without worrying you’ll miss one of our visits. I don’t want you to get all upset if we accidentally miss a visit, either, because that’d probably happen. So I’m adding to our deal just a little.  
  
“You grow up, and you have a fantastic life. Do great in school if you can and if you can’t, because not everyone is meant for school, that’s okay, too. Just make sure you do your best in everything you do and have a great time. Then, when you’re older, you come with us if you want to. You might not want to.”  
  
“Oh, I will,” she said without a doubt, reaching up to wipe her tears.  
  
The Doctor bobbed his head to the side. “Well, then. There you are. We might check in on you every now and then to see how you’re doing but don’t expect visits. Just make us proud.”  
  
“Okay!” she agreed with enthusiasm. She could do that, she was sure of it.   
  
The Doctor tapped the tip of her nose and stood up. He flipped a switch on the console and Amelia felt the ship fly through time. The ride seemed a bit bumpier than usual but Rose held onto her tightly and neither of them fell. The ship touched down with scarcely more than a bump.   
  
“Here we are. Same night you left.” The Doctor announced. “Maybe, ooh, and hour so off. Bit difficult landing in close proximity to a past version of the TARDIS but I did me best. At most it’s closer to dawn than anything. Aand…” his voice lowered, the enthusiasm fading. “This is where we leave you, Miss Amelia Pond.”   
  
She gulped and looked at the doors across the room that would lead her back to her real life. She wondered what would happen if she ran through the other set of doors. Would she be able to hide or would the ship keep her from leaving? Would they catch her and drag her back out? She decided she didn’t want to find out. The Doctor might take back his deal.   
  
“I’m gonna miss you,” she sniffled.   
  
“And we’ll miss you, too,” Rose said, kneeling down, and enveloped her in a warm hug. “But it is time.”  
  
Amelia entered the TARDIS alone but she left it with both its occupants on either side, holding her hands. They opened the doors for her and Amelia felt the cool night air hit her in the face and she inhaled, filling her lungs with proper Earth air for the first time in a while. She gazed around at her garden, with its shed, fences, plants, and swing. She looked up at the house. All the lights were off, her aunt slumbering within completely unaware of what had transpired.   
  
Amelia sighed heavily. This was her home, however much she didn’t like it. She could at least appreciate it a little more, though. But at the same time…how could she ever view boring old Leadworth as anything but dull now that she’d seen what lied beyond the sky?   
  
“Thank you.” The words left her mouth before she’d even really considered them but they felt right.   
  
“It was our pleasure,” the Doctor replied.   
  
Amelia looked up at him, then at Rose who smiled, squeezed her hand, and let go. “Be careful,” she said. “And good luck.”  
  
“Yeah. You too,” Amelia said seriously.   
  
She inhaled through her nose, exhaled through her mouth, then took off at a run out of the TARDIS, through the garden, towards her house. She thought she heard the TARDIS doors close behind her. And when she reached her back door she heard something she hadn’t since the very first night the TARDIS had arrived in her garden. It started off loudly, a wheezing, grating sound that she now knew to be the sound of the rotor at work, mixed with whirling whooshes and other cosmic sounds. Turning around, she saw the big blue box flickering in and out of existence before finally fading away all together and the sound of its departure disappeared in the wind.   
  
Her next inhale was shaky but she forced herself not to cry again. They’d be back. They’d promised.   
  
Amelia reached for the door and as she shifted, she noticed a weight in her sweater that she hadn’t before. Reaching inside, she pulled out the rainbow slinky she’d taken from the slinky room when she’d first arrived. Eyes widening, she looked at the place where the TARDIS had disappeared, and without thinking, shouted out, “WAIT! Doctor! Rose! Come back! I forgot your slinky!!”   
  
Of course, they didn’t rematerialize. Instead a light turned on up stairs and Amelia groaned under her breath. Oh, great, now she’d done it. There was no way she was getting back to her bed now. She sighed and prepared herself for the worst, tucking the slinky back in her pocket, then opened the back door and stepped inside.  
  
The thing about the Doctor is that to a young child like Amelia he’s only a few pegs down from being a god. To innocent, imaginative eyes, he is a magic man, a genius, and a miracle worker. He has Santa Status, maybe higher. Amelia trusted the Doctor completely, took everything he said as truth, so of course she had no way of knowing, hadn’t even bothered to consider that he might not have gotten her back when he’d said he would.   
  
So Amelia was entirely unprepared to learn she had been missing for three whole days.   
  


**END OF PART 1**

 


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